


14,000,605

by JayPendragon



Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, Avengers Family, Avengers Feels, Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie) Compliant, Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie) Spoilers, Character Death, Dark, Gen, Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Stephen Strange-centric, Temporary Character Death, Tony Stark-centric, might count as "Major character death" depending on the way you look at it, there are stakes in this - please beware
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-17
Updated: 2018-07-11
Packaged: 2019-05-08 04:54:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 19,566
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14686914
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JayPendragon/pseuds/JayPendragon
Summary: "Stephen doesn’t expect the douchebag to be the key."How Stephen Strange figures out it’s Tony he needs to save… and what happens after.*SPOILERS for Infinity War. Warning for character deaths.





	1. one

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was so glad that I didn’t feel the need to write post-IW fics… until merlenhiver commented on the process of Doctor Strange realizing it’s Tony he needs to save, not the Time Stone. Off I was into this rabbit hole!  
> Merlenhiver also functioned as formidable beta on this fic. 14,000,605x thanks, my dearest! 
> 
> Some lines are direct quotes from respective Marvel movies, including _Infinity War_.  
>  Also, I’ve heard and read many great theories about the plot of Avengers 4, and this fic is my take on it. Or rather, my wish list, you could say? Anyway, this isn’t intended as the ultimate theory on how our favourite heroes will solve this, just what appealed most to my Muse these past few weeks with only _Infinity War_ to go on.
> 
>  **EDIT: Warning for character death.** I call it minor character death, some readers call it major character death. Please beware and heed the tags.

The risk is too high, Stephen decides. 

There are too many ways this could go horribly wrong, so not ensuring they’re on the right path would be an irresponsible oversight. He is the only one with the power and the skill to do it – and the chance, for that matter, given how the others are too busy squabbling amongst themselves to pay him any heed. 

Idiots. 

The Eye of Agamotto will show him which paths lead to salvation. He has faced an entity from the Dark Dimension and won. He can find the key to a simple cosmic threat. 

Stephen closes his eyes and looks to the future. 

*

**#1**

It plays out as Stephen expects, at first. 

Thanos turns Stark’s own tech against him, pats the man’s head as blood spills from his mouth. 

Stark looks at Strange then, his future self. 

Resigned. Understanding, if not accepting. 

Thanos twists the blade against the internal organs, drawing a gurgling sound from Stark even as the man lifts his hand in a last, feeble attempt to save himself. 

It’s doomed from the start. 

The Spider launches himself at Thanos with a cry so wrought with grief Stephen feels it in his bones. The young man’s own bones break under the weight of Titan wreckage soon thereafter.

The Guardians die one after the other. Stephen’s future self stands his ground, protects the Stone, goes toe to toe with Thanos and holds his own. 

Until he doesn’t. 

“Look at you now, wizard,” Thanos says, gazing down at where Strange is anchored to the rocky ground by forces even he can’t undo. 

“You’ll never get the Stone from me,” Strange chokes out though Stephen can hear the doubt seeping into his voice. 

He is no match against the gallery of gems Thanos has already amassed… and yet he can’t deny the soft sense of pride at the sight of his own resilience in the face of Thanos’ torture. 

“Fine,” Thanos says eventually. “I’ll find another way.”

Another way involves the Mind Stone, tearing it off the machine Doctor Banner referred to as Vision, and it’s only when Thanos turns a smile on his captive future self that the full extent of Thanos’ plan dawns on Stephen. 

There is no time loop like there was with Dormammu. No reassurance that the rest of Earth is safe. Strange breaks under the onslaught of the amplified Mind Stone and Thanos gets his will. 

_Snap._

Stephen keeps watching.

He keeps watching as his future self turns to ashes along with half the universe – random, yet lethal nonetheless. He finds what’s left of the Avengers in Wakanda. 

Steve Rogers sits on the forest ground, his face twisted with the pain of a man who has lost everything. 

The blonde woman is the first to speak. “What do we do now?”

Silence. Until – 

“We fight,” Steve Rogers says, getting up. The man who lost everything is also the one with nothing left to lose. 

“This time, I shall go for the head,” Thor declares. Storm Breaker rests heavy in his hands. 

Thor makes good on his word. 

But it doesn’t make a difference, in the end. 

*

Stephen turns his back on this possible future. Him fighting Thanos is obviously not the key to saving the universe. 

Stephen doesn’t mind. This was but one door among millions. 

He still has time.

*  
**#5**

In the fifth possible scenario he observes, his future self opens a portal and escapes to a far-off planet. 

Thanos finds him.

*

**#6**

Strange tries different destinations, tries leaving before Thanos can kill the others, tries everything. 

Each time, Thanos tracks him down.

Fleeing is obviously not the key either. 

*

**#5,647**

“Asshole!” Quill shouts in Thanos’ face while Stark and the Spider attempt to wrestle the Gauntlet off their adversary. “Tell me you didn’t do it!”

Strange casts a freezing spell on Quill. 

“You couldn’t have done that sooner?” Stark grunts, still pulling on the Gauntlet with all his enhanced power. 

Strange rolls his eyes and strengthens his enchantments just as the Gauntlet comes off. 

“We got it! Mr. Stark, we did it!” the young one cheers, his cowl retracting to reveal his relieved face, eyes darting from the Gauntlet in Stark’s hands up to his mentor. 

“Yeah, yeah, go team, but we gotta –”

Stephen never hears what Stark thinks they “gotta” do next since of course the douchebag let himself be distracted by his protégé and only notices Thanos broke Mantis’ hold when a purple hand closes around his neck. 

There is no time for the nanotech to shield their creator – it’s doubtful it would have withstood the full onslaught of Thanos’ brute strength anyway. Stephen feels nothing as he watches Stark’s lifeless body drop to the rocky Titan ground. 

The Spider is another story. 

“No! Mr. Stark!” 

The anguished tone combined with the man’s name is something Stephen never thought he’d hear. He’s seen it before, this blind loyalty the young one has for Stark, and even back then on the ship Stephen was inclined to warn him off. He used to be just like Stark – arrogant, selfish. Undeserving of being entrusted with anyone’s life. 

Stephen meant what he said: if the choice is his, he will protect the Time Stone. And he does. 

They put up a good fight, Stephen’s future self included. 

They stand no chance, in the end. 

A snap of a finger is all it takes and the universe tilts on its axis. 

*

**#423,576**

His future self escapes Thanos on Titan once more – not to hide this time, but to take matters into his own hands. 

“We do not tamper with natural law,” Wong protests, echoing his words from what feels like a lifetime ago. 

“That’s why I need your help to stabilize the continuum,” Strange says, then shows Wong the necessary spells. 

Steve Rogers moves in front of Vision before the portal behind Strange has a chance to close. 

“Step aside, Captain,” Strange says. “This is the only way.”

“We don’t trade lives.” 

One would have thought two years of fighting underground, of being hunted would have cured the Captain of his stubborn righteousness, yet it remains. 

“Who the hell is this dude?” one of the other Avengers says. 

Strange ignores him, along with the assortment of weapons aimed at him. He is now right in front of Captain Rogers. They are of equal height. 

“I have seen where your path leads, Captain,” he says, “and it is not to salvation.”

“So you decide to mess with time?” Rogers’ eyes flash with something dangerous, but it’s Vision who cuts this short. 

“He’s right,” the machine says. He meets Strange’s gaze with refreshing clarity. “I won’t stand in the way of preventing catastrophe.”

“Vis, no –”

“Wanda, please.”

“I can’t, I –”

“You must,” Strange interrupts. 

At the end of the line, there is still the _snap_ of a finger that changes the universe forever and all their plans to restore it eventually fail. 

*

So killing Vision isn’t the key either. 

Stephen wonders how much longer he will have to search. How difficult can it be to find even one possibility that yields a positive outcome?

_“Some things just can’t be fixed.”_

Christine’s words come to him, unbidden. 

No. There has to be a way. Stephen simply hasn’t found it yet. 

*

**#723,767**

Maybe the Ancient One had a point. Maybe sometimes you have to break the rules for the greater good. 

“We’re the Avengers,” Stark says, back in 2015 when they were still a team instead of different fractions splintered by a stack of papers and selfish insistence on principles. 

Stephen spots Strange immediately, in the shadows behind the charred remains of an Iron Legion armor, but none of the others does. Concealment spell, most likely, and a damn good one at that. 

“We can bust arms dealers on a livelong day but that up there?” Stark points towards the ceiling. “That’s the endgame. How are we guys planning on beating that?”

“Together.” 

This is a different Steve Rogers – clean-shaven and brimming with hope and idealism, still carrying the shield with pride. 

Stark steps towards him. “We’ll lose.”

“Then we’ll do that together, too.” 

Rogers holds Stark’s gaze for a moment, unwavering conviction without a trace of fear. It’s powerful enough to spark hope in Stark, too, Stephen can see it – yet he doubts his future self is able to from his vantage point. 

Stark turns away, breaking eye contact. 

“Thor’s right,” Rogers says. “Ultron’s calling us out. And I’d like to find him before he’s ready for us.”

“That won’t be necessary.”

Stephen always knew how to make an entrance and this time doesn’t disappoint. Strange deflects the Hammer, stops the Captain’s shield before it can connect with his face, freezes the single gauntlet Stark manages to activate as it’s still powering up. 

“Who are you, wizard?” Thor booms. 

“Yeah, and why are you copying Thor’s cape?” Stark quips. 

Strange ignores both of them. He confines them to the Tower, opens a portal and goes in search of the Scepter, then tracks down the one person with the power to destroy it. 

In a world without Vision, Wanda Maximoff is much more cooperative. 

When the Mind Stone shatters, Stephen is certain he found the key. That Earth is safe. 

He thought wrong. 

“Oh no.”

Strange’s entire body slumps as he connects the dots. Everyone else is still gaping at the rift in the fabric of reality many, many miles above them in the skies, except for Stark, who whips around.  
“What is that?”

“An unstable dimensional opening.” Strange’s voice sounds hollow. 

Stark slams him against the wall of the quinjet. “What the hell did you do?” 

“What I thought was right,” he snaps and his Cloak slaps Stark’s hands away. 

“How do we fix it?”

They don’t. The rift keeps unleashing jolts of cosmic energy and there is no stopping it. None of Stark’s tech or Strange’s magic manage to knit it shut or prevent the destruction it wreaks. 

Stephen watches until Earth lies in ruins. If it gives him nightmares, he deserves them. Maybe they will serve as sufficient deterrent should he ever consider tampering with the continuum again. 

So temporal manipulation isn’t the key either. 

*

**#940,869**

Carol Danvers refuses, at first. The Kree need her, she says. 

“Earth needs you more,” Strange insists, unapologetic, and whisks her away. 

In the end, there’s still a _snap_. 

“Y’know,” Nick Fury says to Strange as they both begin to disintegrate. “I was gonna call her myself, motherf...”

*

Carol Danvers is not the key either. 

Stephen is beginning to feel he’s missing something important. Either that, or the Eye of Agamotto has a cruel sense of humor. 

*

**#7,432,983**

Another possibility, another failure. 

Thor took on the full force of a star once more, Eitri forged another Gauntlet, yet it never reached completion. Thor could have wielded it, if it had. Could have snapped his fingers and brought everyone back, could have undone what Thanos had ruined, put everything to rights. 

Stephen knows the war is over, their last attempt to restore the universe doomed. He can stop watching and yet he stays, seeks out the Sanctum in New York even though seeing it so open and vulnerable pains him. 

He expects to find the city in chaos. Anarchy the new law of the land.

He stops at a traffic light. Blinks. 

The pedestrian light turns green. The few cars still on the street stop. They can’t see him, obviously, but they still obey the rules. 

That’s when he spots them – robots, bearing the Avengers “A”, similar to the first version of the Iron Legion he saw back in 2015 several million possible outcomes ago. 

Stark may be gone, but apparently he thought ahead. He thought beyond his time on Earth. 

Stephen feels a cold fist close around his intestines. 

All this time, he forgot the most powerful lesson of all. He thought he was the one who had to find a way. That it was his task to restore the universe. 

Oh, the ego of him. 

_“It’s not about you.”_

All this time… he was never the key. 

*

**#7,432,984**

“Hey, what was that?” the kid asks, but Strange has no time to explain. 

“You have to leave,” he tells Stark and Peter, then opens a portal underneath their feet.

Stephen doesn’t stay with his future self – he’s seen Thanos best him often enough – but follows Stark and his ward right into the heart of Wakanda. 

They’re surrounded by the King’s guard before they can get their bearings.

“State your purpose, intruder,” a bald woman snaps at Stark, pointing a spear in his face. 

The sight is deeply satisfying, Stephen has to admit. 

“Strange dumped us here,” Stark grumbles. 

“The mage?” T’Challa tenses. “To what end?”

“Probably wants all the glory for himself, that Dumbledore Wannabe.”

Stephen sighs. Still a douchebag. 

Stark climbs to his feet and dusts himself off while Peter Parker gapes at his surroundings. 

“Oh my god, is this Wakanda?”

That’s when the Doj Milaje shift and reveal Steve Rogers standing with the rest of the Avengers. Stephen figured this would be a happy reunion, that Stark would talk some sense into Rogers about the Mind Stone and that this exercise in endless permutations would finally be over. 

No such luck. 

Any hopes of reconciliation evaporate with one glimpse at Bucky Barnes and his new Vibranium arm.

When the snap echoes throughout the universe this time around, Earth’s mightiest heroes go their separate paths. 

*

**#7,997,003**

Strange waits until Quill is through with his emotional outburst, then opens a portal for Stark that will drop him right into the middle of the battle. 

Trial by fire – no chance to argue with Rogers and Barnes if the ground is crawling with Outriders. 

Strange remains on Titan, keeps fighting Thanos with the Spider and the Guardians until the inevitable happens, but Stephen is long gone, levitating over the fields of Wakanda that have turned into a battle ground.  
Hope blooms in his chest as he watches Iron Man and Rogers take on the Titan. Maybe this is it. Maybe Stephen has finally – 

Thanos crushes Stark to smithereens. 

No, he hasn’t. 

*

**#11,002,522**

This time, Strange explains himself. He draws Thanos away while the Avengers reassemble under Stephen’s watchful eye. 

When Shuri extracts the Mind Stone, Stephen thinks it’s over, once and for all. 

He smiles as it shatters into million pieces under Wanda’s powers… only for his smile to falter when Thanos returns with the Time Stone and undoes it all. 

The Avengers close ranks on the planes of Wakanda. 

Thanos _snaps_ his fingers right after snapping Tony Stark’s neck, the God of Thunder lying broken at their feet. 

Stephen sighs. Fine. 

Stark isn’t the key either. He prefers it that way. 

*

**#12,042,831**

Strange joins the forces in Wakanda. 

“If you’re here to suggest –”

“No, Captain.”

“Not a Captain anymore,” Rogers says before Strange can give the real reason he left a planet littered with corpses. 

Behind them, the princess of Wakanda starts on Vision, her face determined as though her endeavor weren’t doomed from the outset. 

“Wait, wait… Where’s Tony?” Doctor Banner looks at Strange, unblinking. 

Strange marvels – again – at how a douchebag such as Stark can inspire such devotion. Even Rogers seems affected, after all the man has done to him. 

There is no time to mourn, however, since an army of Outriders comes charging at the borders of Wakanda, followed by the purple Titan himself. This is what Strange has been waiting for. 

Wanda Maximoff is slain before she can succeed, yet when Thanos turns to Strange, five Stones adorning his fist, it’s Steve Rogers who leaps into his path. 

“Wait,” Strange calls across the clearing and Thanos pauses with his foot still bearing down on Rogers’ chest where the white star once was. 

Strange trades the Stone for Rogers’ life, ignoring the man’s protests, Thor’s anger, Banner’s incredulity. 

Strange doesn’t see Rogers’s expression as Barnes crumbles to dust – but Stephen does. 

It sticks in his mind throughout the events that unfold. He watches those that are left of Earth’s mightiest heroes seek out Thanos and fight him for the Gauntlet. Watches with mounting dread as a strobe of lighting hits the already damaged glove, freeing the Stones to scatter themselves again as they once did when the universe began. 

Thanos laughs as he dies, Storm Breaker splitting his skull. 

It’s the other daughter that tells them about Vormir and inspires them to gather the scattered Stones within a second Gauntlet. Steve Rogers flinches at the sight of the Red Skull but eventually follows the creature to the edge of the cliff. 

“The Stone demands a sacrifice,” the Red Skull says and Stephen wants to rip his hair out.  
The man who lost everything has nothing left to lose. 

Steve Rogers cannot retrieve the Soul Stone. 

None of them can. 

*  
**#13,583,697**

 _“Alright, Stark. We go to him. But you have to understand – if it comes to saving you, or the kid, or the Time Stone, I will not hesitate to let either of you die. I can’t. Because the universe depends on it.”_

Contrary to Steve Rogers, Strange has no qualms about trading lives. 

Something tells him that Stark wouldn’t either, in the scope of things, but the man is not alive to witness Strange trade the Time Stone for Peter Parker’s life. 

This time, when he watches the last of the Avengers happen upon the Red Skull on Vormir, Stephen is certain to have found the key. 

He can imagine it, too – from the tears to Peter Parker’s pleas and his eventual acceptance. The young man knows reassembling the Gauntlet is the only way to restore the universe and he isn’t arrogant or selfish enough to let the prospect of his own suffering stand in the way of salvation. 

Only when they travel to Queens… the Parker residence sits empty. 

“May?” Peter calls out, his voice breaking. “May?” 

Stephen watches as Rogers takes them to Stark Tower, a beacon of hope in the midst of a city still reeling from Thanos’ actions. 

Pepper Potts covers Peter’s hand with hers after she shows him his aunt’s name on the list of confirmed casualties. 

“Do you know what happened to Tony?” she whispers. 

“He… Thanos,” is all Peter manages before succumbing to his grief. 

Stephen doesn’t need to stay, technically. He has seen this before – with no one to retrieve the Soul Stone, the Gauntlet will never be restored. 

And yet he stays. 

_“Admit it. Should have ducked out when I told you to. I tried to bench you, you refused.”_

_“Unlike everyone else in your life, I don’t work for you.”_

Stephen’s own words echo in his head. As he watches Pepper Potts’ tear-filled eyes look upon her engagement ring, he wonders if he was wrong. 

*

He doesn’t expect the douchebag to be the key. 

What’s more, he doesn’t _want_ the douchebag to be the key. He’d been certain he’d ruled him out. 

Yet maybe… maybe that’s what Stephen was missing.

*

**#13,999,999**

"Go back!" Stark demands, panic making his voice break. "You've gotta go back for the kid!"

"The kid is not important," Strange says, and starts to explain. 

Stephen watches the man's face, unsure whether he should be impressed or worried by how much control Stark has over his facial muscles – that is, until Strange reveals the final part of the plan. 

"No," Stark says, as though it is that simple. 

"It is one life against billions," Strange says. "Surely you must see that –"

"I gotta see shit," Stark interrupts, setting the tone for the rest of the argument that follows. 

Needless to say, telling Stark what to do is not the key either.

*

**#14,000,107**

This time, Strange says nothing, doesn't even transport the Spider off along with Stark, merely opens a portal underneath him at the last possible moment. 

Stephen leaves Titan in favor of the Avengers compound, rolls his eyes at Stark and Potts' despicably sweet reunion phone call, and expects Stark to take the first quinjet to Wakanda in the wake of the _Snap_ – yet that is not what happens.

Instead, Stark stays in Upstate New York, coordinates with the White House, the UN, the WTO, oversees emergency protocols, writes new ones and does about everything humanly possible to ensure the world keeps turning, metaphorically speaking. 

What is left of the Avengers return to America. Wakanda leads rebuilding efforts along with Stark Industries. A new global peacekeeping organization is born, Stark at the helm. 

Stephen watches as one does a horrific accident as long as he can, though even he can only endure people addressing Stark as "Director" so many times before it becomes too much. 

*

Keeping him in the dark apparently is not the key either. 

A middle ground, maybe. The right amount of information at just the right moment, in the context of exactly the right actions. 

The proverbial needle in the haystack. Stephen knows it's there... he just has to find it. 

*

**#14,000,604**

Another combination, another failure. 

Whatever Strange says, Stark misunderstands.

Too many variables, too much potential for conflict. When it's not Stark who screws it up, it's Steve Rogers and his mantra of _"We don't trade lives"_ that will forever haunt Stephen's nightmares. 

He gives in to the temptation to bury his face in his hands. If only the former Captain didn't have such a strong moral compass. 

It takes him a moment to remember why this phrase sounds so familiar.

_"But you have to understand – if it comes to saving you, or the kid, or the Time Stone, I will not hesitate to let either of you die. I can’t. Because the universe depends on it."_

_"Nice. Good, moral compass. We’re straight."_

Stephen's pulse stutters. What if... what if that’s what he’s been missing?

*

**#14,000,605**

Stephen watches himself do exactly what he swore not to. He trades the Stone for Tony Stark’s life. Watches the Guardians fade to ash. 

Watches the kid die in Stark’s arms. 

Watches his future self disappear as a _snap_ shakes their universe to the core. 

And then… then it all comes together.


	2. two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Special thanks to merlenhiver for helping this chapter through many, many iterations and cheering me on! Also for letting me use an IW-related joke she came up with xD And thanks to everyone who has kudo'd, commented, bookmarked... your enthusiasm for this story is so rewarding!
> 
> I haven't tagged it since it's not the focus, but this story includes canon Tony/Pepper. Also, it can be read as romantic Stucky, though if it's not your ship then a close bromance works, too. 
> 
> Chapter warning for FEELS. I made myself cry with this chapter. I'm quite proud of it and I sincerely hope you enjoy this as well.

Tony sits. 

He sits on the rocks of a planet not his own, staring at his hands and the traces of ash clinging to his skin, like there’s still something left of – 

No, nope, that’s nonsense. 

It’s ash, nothing more. Heaps of oxides, phosphates and carbonates. Tony can see their chemical formulas clear as day, could scratch them into the rock next to him. That is, if these elements behave the same way on Titan. Breathing’s not an issue for him, so it’s safe to assume the atmosphere’s at least similar to – 

 _‘You’re deflecting,’_ a voice says in his head. _‘Stop deflecting,’_

It sounds like Pepper, cause yeah, that’s what she’d say. She’d be right, too. He does that, distract himself with science and observations rather than face the reality of it all and… 

And he doesn’t even know if Pepper’s still alive. 

“Get up, human.”

Tony lifts his head. A breeze scatters the last specs of dust into the air and draws his attention with it. A one-way ticket. And who knows if there’s still a neighborhood. 

“Get up,” the cyborg says again, sounding oh-so human. Angry. Hurt. 

If they’d met under different circumstances, he’d be all over this. Is she AI? Did she start as a creature? When were the parts added, and why? How? Science is soothing. 

“Human.”

He wants to say he can’t, not because he physically can’t but cause he doesn’t see the _point_. They lost, the purple asshole won, there’s no endga–

 _Oh. Wait._

Robotic eyes narrow. “You’re not as stupid as you look.”

Tony wants to protest but his voice refuses to work. He clears his throat but his mouth is dry and everything feels sore. The only thing that doesn’t hurt is the healed tissue of his abdomen. On any other day, the news that his prototype works would have him shout it from the rooftops. 

Now, it only makes him recall Strange’s expression, his words. 

_“If it comes to saving you, or the kid, or the Time Stone, I will not hesitate to let either of you die. I can’t. Because the universe depends on it.”_

Fourteen million six hundred and five. 

_‘Tony. There was no other way.’_

Strange sounded truly apologetic. Whatever he had seen, it was worth trading the Time Stone to achieve. As much as Tony wants to curl up on this planet and wait until he fades, too – 

 _‘I don’t wanna go’_

– as much as Tony wants that, he can’t. Apparently, he still has a job to do. 

*

There’s still blood between his teeth. 

The Guardians’ spaceship has a sink and a mirror and Tony uses it, but when he looks at his reflection and sees his bloody mouth, he’s back outside, a blade shaped from his own tech piercing his stomach and praying to whatever entity is listening that the kid stays far away from this.

But when did Tony ever get what he wants? 

_‘– please, sir, I don’t wanna go –’_

Tony rinses. Spits out bloodied water. 

_‘I’m sorry.’_

Next thing he knows, the mirror is broken into hundred little pieces and his knuckles are bleeding. 

For some reason, the cyborg – Nebula, she said – regards him with less vitriol now. 

Tony clears his throat. “How do we fly this thing?”

“You? Not at all.”

“But… spaceship!” is all Tony manages. 

Nebula rolls her eyes. Points to the co-pilot seat. “Sit.”

He does. It makes him think of their old quinjet, of JARVIS, and of Vision, who’s probably gone as well. 

“What’s that tech? Woulda said it looks really advanced but I guess it would to a species that doesn’t even have space travel yet. To you this is probably 90s tech, like a pager when everyone else’s using cell phones –”

“Does your species always talk so much?”

“Depends on the person, really,” Tony shrugs. “I just figured – how long’s this gonna take? You seriously gonna just sit there and think of your dead sister the entire ride?”

That struck a chord. 

He expected traveling to Earth would be a harder sell to her, but given that it’s Thanos’ last known location, Nebula is all for it. 

Won’t even take that long – it’s amazing how fast spaceships can go, with their clicks and jumps and… Yeah, Tony’s not really getting it. If his head were clearer, maybe then he’d be an expert on intergalactic travel by the time they arrive in upstate New York. 

“Why there?” Nebula asks. 

“It’s the Avengers compound, got all my tech there. Besides,” Tony swallows. _Don’t think of Rhodey, don’t think of Rhodey._ “Emergency protocols. In case of a global event, that’s our crisis center. You wanna know where Thanos went, that’s where we’ll find out.”

Well, he’s bending the truth a little. The emergency protocols, those are real. It’s not exactly a suit of armor around the world, but it’s damn near close enough. They also require Pepper to evacuate to the facility for protection, so if she’s still alive… that’s where he’ll find her. 

He changes the topic, then, and asks about Nebula’s hate boner for Thanos. 

Which turns out to be a mistake. 

“Thanos would have my sister and me battle one another in training. Every time, Gamora prevailed. My father would replace a piece of me with cybernetic enhancements, claiming he wanted me to be her equal. But I never was.” 

Nebula turns her head and waits until Tony looks right into her robotic eyes. 

“Thanos pulled my eye from my head, and my brain from my skull, and my arm from my body... When I find him, I will tear him apart piece by piece until he knows even a fraction of the unceasing pain I knew every single day. I will not fail again."

Oh. Tony swallows. He has no idea what to say, so he goes for something to lighten the mood. “Phew… And I thought my old man had issues.”

She doesn’t think it’s funny. 

To be fair, she doesn’t think anything’s funny. 

“Don’t you have a sense of humor? No? Damn… It’s gonna be a long ride.”

*

They step onto the roof of the Avengers facility to the sound of charging guns. There should be at least fifteen guards staring him down but he counts barely eight – seven and one so fresh Tony would be surprised if this weren’t the boy’s first day. 

Tony raises his hands and aims a pointed look at Nebula. She ignores him. 

“Stand down,” Tony orders, then gives his security codes. 

When the leader lowers her weapon, he can see the relief on her face. “Good to have you back, sir.”

They take him inside, down the stairs, past the high windows, right to – 

Pepper. 

His Pepper, in the flesh. Staring at him from across the lobby, her hair glowing in the light of the rising sun on the second morning after the _Snap_. Which she survived. 

Tony’s feet carry him forward and they’re in each other’s arms in an instant. No words can describe what he’s feeling – half the universe is gone but Pepper, his Pepper, his rock, his one constant throughout the decades… she’s still there. 

He buries his face in her hair, breathes in the familiar scent of her shampoo, allows himself to cling to her for what feels like an eternity until he registers that Pepper’s talking. 

“– thought I’d lost you. What happened, what – where? How did you…?”

“It’s a long story,” Tony says, but it’s actually not. Nebula has a way of cutting down to the essentials. Nevertheless, it ends in tears. 

“Peter, too?” Pepper whispers. 

All Tony can do is nod. He gulps down another glass of water even though he’d sell his soul for something stronger. But the facility is a booze-free zone; part of the healthier lifestyle Pepper’s roped him into.

“And the wizard. But – alright, you’re not gonna like this, but hear me out, hon.”

Pepper does. She starts shaking her head halfway through. 

“Please, I just got you back, you can’t –”

“I gotta do this,” Tony interrupts, taking her hands into his. “Don’t you see? We’re in the endgame now. The Avengers… the world never needed us more.”

“Tony… Please, don’t do this. Don’t leave me again.”

He pulls her close, wipes her tears away and places another kiss on her lips. 

Back on the ship, he had too much time to think despite his best efforts to the contrary. Took him a moment to remember why Strange’s words sounded so familiar, but when he did, the path ahead suddenly cleared. 

_“That’s the endgame. How are we guys planning on beating that?”_

_“Together.”_

_“We’ll lose.”_

_“Then we’ll do that together, too.”_

Tony pulls back from Pepper, who looks at him with pleading eyes. 

“I’m sorry,” he says, and he is. He would love nothing more than to stay here with Pepper for the rest of his life, but he can’t. 

He’s got to get the band back together.

*

He’s gotta find them first, though. 

Thanks to the footage FRIDAY showed him, he knows they were all here. Tracing the jet is something he could do in his sleep and all his satellites are still online so it’s easy to rule out that anyone has left Wakanda since several alien vessels landed right on their doorstep. 

There’s no chance of knowing who survived the battle or who turned to dust. Tony refuses to speculate, simply takes Nebula to the armory so they can gather weapons and top up on nanoparticles. 

On a whim, Tony dashes off to storage and approaches the reinforced glass case in the corner. It’s just a stupid shield, it shouldn’t fill him with so much dread. He’s gonna have to get over the last confrontation between them eventually. 

If Steve lives. 

“Why are you staring at that disc?”

Nebula must have followed him downstairs. 

“That ‘disc’,” Tony says, “almost killed me once.”

Not to mention the charred specks in the paint where the fires of Coney Island left their mark. The shield would’ve ended up on the black market if the stupid kid hadn’t… 

“We need to leave, human.”

Screw it. He can’t just show up empty-handed and expect everything to be golden again, and he refuses to cede the moral high ground to Steve on this. 

Tony takes a deep breath and opens the case. 

*

They set the ship down outside the border. 

It’s still a few hundred yards to the perimeter, which sucks when you’re carrying about a ton of Vibranium and don’t have super strength.

Next to him, Nebula chuckles.

“Shut it, Robo Smurf.”

Insults, Tony has discovered, roll right off her. 

Having to focus on not dropping the shield – cause he’s sure whoever’s left in Wakanda is watching – is actually a blessing cause between that and analyzing the obvious traces of battle all around them, he’s distracted enough to keep the anxiety at bay. 

The shield would probably also work as a white flag if Steve’s gone, but… no. Tony’s not even gonna entertain that thought. 

“Someone’s coming.”

He follows Nebula’s gaze and almost drops the shield at the sight that greets him.

Steve’s there, as tall and broad-shouldered as he remembers, but also _Rhodey_ , his Rhodey, walking more steadily than ever next to a teenage girl and a mountain of a man decked in… fur, of all things. 

In the distance, he can make out Bruce, too, and Natasha. She’s blonde now, okay, that’s a color – holy shit, what happened to Thor’s hair? 

The God of Thunder is not the only one who’s changed in the past years, though. Steve’s grown a beard and torn the star off his uniform. 

Tony gulps. That’s subtle.

The teenager and Fur Man stop a few meters away, bringing the entire group to a halt with one exception.

The missing star goes along with the darker edge there is to Steve, but it’s when he’s close enough for Tony to make out his expression that the differences become striking. This isn’t the same man who smashed him to the ground in Siberia. It’s like whatever fire has fueled the man for almost a century has been snuffed out and all that’s left is… 

_Oh._

There’s no Bucky Barnes in the entourage. 

Tony expected to feel at least a small spark of satisfaction that his parents’ murderer is amongst the half that vanished, but now, his arm trembling from the weight of the shield and seeing how it’s affecting Steve, all he feels is sadness.

The border section in front of him deactivates as Steve approaches. He stops a few feet away and then just… stands there. 

Tony can hear Nebula shift her stance behind him. She promised to let him do the talking but he figured he wouldn’t have to be the first to break two years’ worth of silence. 

“Can you say something? This thing’s heavy.”

He sets it down – respectfully – for emphasis, then looks back at Steve, whose expression has lost some of the clenched-jaw grimness. 

“Seriously, I didn’t spend a day on an alien ship with Stitch over there for you to give me the silent treatment.”

At least the way Steve’s brow furrows whenever he encounters a reference he doesn’t get hasn’t changed. 

“I…” Steve sighs. His entire chest heaves with it, but the line of his shoulders finally relaxes a little. “I don’t know what to say, Tony.”

“You think I do? But I figure we gotta talk eventually if we’re gonna do this.”

“Do what?”

“Avenge.” 

Steve averts his eyes. “We lost.”

“Nope. Last I checked, the Earth’s still turning – literally. Did I mention the spaceship? So I actually checked. It ain’t over yet. We still got a planet to avenge. Well… half of one.” 

He cringes the moment the words are out of his mouth, even before he sees grief consume Steve’s expression. 

“Too soon, sorry, forget I said that.” 

Tony takes a deep breath and glances up to their group of onlookers cause the alternative is watching Steve compose himself and that’s just gonna make him think of _Doctor Who_ references and plans for an _Aliens_ marathon he’s never gonna get to host. 

“Look,” he says after a beat. “We’re gonna figure this out. Put aside our differences, find a way to make this right and kick that giant purple ass so hard he’s never gonna be a threat again.”

Tony extends his hand. Steve tracks the movement. 

“Together?” Tony asks, then waits. 

Steve regards it, expression blank. For a breathless second, Tony fears he won’t accept it. Two years is a long time. Just when he’s about to withdraw his arm, though…

“Together,” Steve says, and shakes his hand. 

*

Grief lies heavy on the city, covering it like a blanket, yet no amount of mourning can hide how… well, how _awesome_ Wakanda is. Peter would love it here, not to mention get along like a house on fire with the new Queen. 

Or co-sovereign, she’s pretty adamant about that. Fur Man’s name is actually M’Baku and together they’ve taken charge of the nation until it’s clearer whether or not T’Challa’s absence will be permanent.

It seems to be a theme for Wakandans cause there, on a stretcher inside the royal palace, lies what’s left of Vision. 

“We’re trying to fix him” Shuri says and Tony is about to weigh in on that cause some of the devices working on restoring Vision’s forehead spark about a gazillion questions, but something dropping down from the balustrade above them startles him. 

“Jesus!” 

“Nah, just Clint,” Barton quips, echoing his smile, but it seems… hollow. Tony feels his face drop. He doesn’t dare to ask whom he lost. 

Barton’s apparently not interested in questions or drawn-out reunions anyway cause he looks over Tony’s shoulder before he has a chance to get another word in. 

“Who’s your friend?” Barton asks. 

“I am Nebula, daughter of Thanos.”

 _Oh damn._

Steve snarls – honest to god snarls, holy shit – and Thor lunges for her immediately. Nebula ducks out from under his reach but bumps right into Steve, who catches her unawares and slams her into the nearest wall. 

“Hey, hey, hey, Rogers, back down,” Tony says. “She wants to kill him just as much as we do.”

“I doubt that –”

“You ain’t got a monopole on grief, pal,” Tony snaps and then Steve’s turning around and up in his face and Tony can’t control his instincts. 

That’s what he gets for making the new armor so intuitive. 

Steve stops dead in his tracks as the nanites cover the arms he raised in defense as well as his entire body. Tony registers a few impressed sounds from the others around the room but the adrenaline flooding his body has his attention narrow down to the man in front of him, who reels back when he realizes what’s happening. With an apologetic look, Steve lifts his gloved hands. 

“Did you develop them yourself?” 

It takes a moment to register the question was directed at him. 

“Yeah,” he tells Shuri, whose eyes widen and a smile spreads on her face. 

“Ohhh, wait until you see –”

“You can talk science after we defeat Thanos,” M’Baku huffs.

Just like that, the smile’s gone. 

“Yeah, what happened, Tony?” Bruce asks. “Where’s Strange?” 

With a last glance towards Steve, Tony wills the armor to recede. “Dusted.”

Bruce blinks. “But then how – Thanos had the Time Stone.”

He’s thought long and hard about how he can explain what transpired on Titan, to boil it down to the cliff notes while still paying heed to the intricacies of – 

“The mage traded it for this one’s life.”

Or Nebula can snatch the mic and send everyone into a frenzy. Great. 

Steve’s expression darkens again. It takes every ounce of self-control Tony can muster not to suit up again cause that’s scary as fuck, not to mention Thor’s confused anger and everyone else’s demanding questions and stares. 

“You really couldn’t shut up for another minute, could you?”

“You’re wasting time on chit chat,” Nebula says. 

“Silence,” M’Baku barks, and the room obeys. “Explain.”

Every pair of eyes in the room flicks to Tony, which, yeah… not fun. Especially not with all the memories it brings flooding back.

“Well. The wizard used his necklace to go forward in time and, I don’t know, he said he saw, like, fourteen million possible outcomes but there was only one where we won, and then when Big Ugly stabbed me –”

“What –?!”

“Right as rain, doc. Nanotech, remember? Also great at healing skin.”

M’Baku makes an impatient noise and damn, Tony’d better get this over with.

“Anyway, Thanos didn’t finish the job cause Strange gave him the Time Stone. Guess after that he came here and...” He motions towards Vision. “I don’t know what’s going on, alright? All I know is, Strange said he’d let either of us die for the Time Stone cause the fate of the universe depends on it, and then he gave it up to save my life, so I figure… Well. Here we are.”

Tony looks to Bruce, then to Rhodey. “In the endgame.”

Tony’s eyes flick to Thor, to Natasha, to Clint.

To Steve.

Silence.

Steve is the first to break it. 

“Either of us… Who is ‘us’, Tony?”

He can’t look at anyone. His eyes sting. “Peter Parker. Spider-Man. He was on a school trip to MoMa.” Tony hates that he remembers that detail. “Saw the flying donut and came to help. I told him to go but when does the kid ever listen?”

“Was it Thanos?”

Tony blinks at Steve. Is the guy trying to be cruel? “No. He…”

_“I don’t wanna go, please, I don’t wanna go.”_

But Steve isn’t glaring at him. His expression’s quite mellow, in fact. “He would have died at the museum, Tony. You can’t blame yourself for his death.”

“You bet your star-spangled ass, I can!” Tony snaps. Frustration and anger makes him pace. “We were _this close_! We had him, we almost had the Gauntlet and then Mr. Your-Plan-Sucks Star Lord comes in and ruins _everything_.”

“Oh yeah, he does that.”

The voice is new. Tony whips around but shit, he’s gotta be hallucinating cause…

“Anyone else see a talking raccoon?”

“Hey, watch your language, pal!” the animal says as Thor breaks into a smile.

“This is Rocket, the most formidable rabbit of the galaxy. He helped me ignite the fires of Nidavelliar and forge my new weapon.”

Tony glances to Bruce who gives a minute shake of his head. Guess pointing out it’s not a rabbit wouldn’t get him very far.

“So, if you two made it here,” the raccoon says, probably aiming for nonchalant, “I take it the others are toast now?”

At Tony’s nod, Rocket’s furry face does something complicated until it settles into the kind of fake indifference Tony could spot from miles away. He’s more than happy to go along with ignoring it, too. 

Thor? Not so much.

“I am sorry for your loss, rabbit.”

“You kidding me? Being alone’s much better. I prefer it, actually. No more morons, always getting me into trouble…”

“Speaking of trouble,” Steve cuts in, pushing off the window he was leaning against and uncrossing his arms. “You said something about avenging.”

“Thanos is mine,” Nebula says.

“Yeah, grab a number, Sully.” Tony says cause he can see Thor’s grip on that axe thingy tightening. “But he’s still got the Stones, right?”

Thor heaves a sigh. “Last I saw, yes.”

“So he’s still a threat,” Steve says and Tony’s about to agree when an alarm chimes. 

Tony would’ve commented on how eerily fitting the timing is but then he sees the bald guard woman, Oko-something, project a holographic video feed from Wakanda’s border from a freaking _beaded bracelet_ , and his mind’s lost to translating the sight into possible prototypes and schematics. 

Which is probably why he isn’t the first to recognize the new arrival.

“That’s Wong!” Bruce says. “I know him, he’s on our side.”

Wong isn’t nearly as impressed by Wakanda as Tony expected him to be. Either he’s got the world’s best poker face or he’s done too much magic. Not that magic could ever compete with the marvels of technology, really, and Tony could make his point better if the scary bald woman let him touch her bracelet. 

“I can show you a spare pair later, if you promise not to break it when you geek out,” Shuri teases, and Tony can’t decide whether her disrespectful attitude is refreshing or annoying. 

Anyway. Wong. 

They bring him into what used to be the throne room, go through a bit of introductory chit-chat cause some people still hold onto decorum in the face of crisis, until Wong finally reveals the reason for his visit. 

“The Time Stone called to me,” he says gravely. “I waited for Strange to take care of it – he’s the official Stone Keeper and gets pretty cross when you… Well. When he didn’t, I took an educated guess.” Wong breathes out audibly, doing his best not to show how much he’s mourning. “I traced it on the astral plane and took charge of it.”

And then there it is again. The little green gem Strange traded Tony’s life for. 

He, along everyone else, stares. 

“But if that one’s here,” Natasha begins.

“... then where are the others?” Steve finishes without missing a beat. 

Tony wonders if that’s something they developed during their time on the run, if only since it’s a much better thing to focus on than the way it makes him think of Pepper.

Wong’s eyes sweep the room. “Did anyone see what happened after he used them? 

Thor nods, but he’s keeping his gaze downcast. It’s almost as if he’s ashamed. 

“I fought him last. I thought burying Storm Breaker in his chest would prove sufficient, yet it didn’t. I wanted to look him in the eye as I slayed him, make him pay for my people… and my brother. It was foolish of me, and I apologize. It will never happen again.”

Oh, that’s why. 

“I know it won’t,” Steve says, and some of Thor’s melancholy lifts. 

“Thanos snapped his fingers and all went white for a moment. When I next laid eyes on the Gauntlet, it was charred beyond repair. The force of all six Stones must have been too much for the device to bear. What do you make of this, Stone Keeper?”

“When they first came into this world, the Stones scattered themselves across the universe. Maybe they did the same now?”

Which of course prompts a discussion on the impact of different discharge levels on molecular structures between Tony, Bruce and Shuri, which Clint interrupts with a succinct, “Guys, I’m getting a headache. And Steve over there looks like he’s actually got something to contribute that’s gonna help all of us.” 

Tony shares a sheepish grin with Shuri and Bruce, then mimes zipping his mouth shut and pointedly turns his attention to Steve, who’s regarding Wong with an eerie intensity. 

“If they’re indeed scattered and if we find them,” Steve says, “if we get them all... could we undo it? Restore the lives lost?”

Tony’s heartbeat stutters. The entire room seems to be holding their collective breath as Wong is silent for a moment. Then – 

“I believe so.”

Tony thinks of his giant flatscreen, wonders if the kid prefers his popcorn sweet or salty, and almost misses Wong’s follow-up in the midst of all his daydreaming. 

“If you find someone who can take that much power.”

“Come on, how hard can it be?” Tony snorts. “It’s a damn accessory.” 

“One that would break your feeble bodies and plunge your minds into madness,” Thor intones, which shuts everyone right up. 

Except Rocket. 

“Well, that one took on the force of an entire star the other day,” he pipes up, pointing a furry thumb at Thor. “That’s gotta count for something.”

“You took on a star?” Bruce says, echoing Tony’s thoughts.

“It was the only way to acquire my new weapon,” Thor explains with a shrug, though there’s a smug curl to his lips. 

“I hate to break it to you guys, but the Gauntlet’s still toast,” Clint points out. “How’s Mr. Almighty over here gonna use them even if we get our hands on all six? Just toss them in the air and click his heels three times?”

Tony chuckles, as does Nat. Wong doesn’t twitch.

“Why would I click my heels?”

“Ignore Birdy here, Thor,” Rocket says, and keeps talking over Clint’s indignant _Hey!_ “We’ll just make a new one.”

“I’m not sure that’s feasible,” Shuri says before Rocket can go on, her brow furrowed. “Even with our resources.” 

“We’ll have to find a way,” Bruce says.

“Ha, and if we don’t,” Tony says, “We’ll just order one on Gauntlets-For-Me-dot-com. I’ll even spring for express shipping.”

“As fun as that sounds,” Rocket cuts in, “why don’t we just head back to Nidavelliar and make another one? Which is what I’d have suggested if you’da let me finish, techie.”

Of course that sets off the bald one, who then calls Rocket “rodent”, and it takes a lot of placating from Shuri and Thor lifting Rocket out of the spear’s reach to diffuse the situation. 

“The rabbit is right. Eitri still has the mold. The star has been awakened, so all I need to do is open the iris one more time to melt the metal.”

“Custom is always better anyway, nothing of that hand me down crap,” Rocket adds but Tony ignores him. 

“Can we trust that guy not to snitch on us?” 

“He did not forge the Gauntlet by choice, Tony,” Thor explains, his mood slipping back into melancholy. “Thanos promised he would spare Eitri’s people if he made it, yet the purple tyrant is not a man of his word.”

“Brilliant!” Tony claps his hands. “Then we’ll make another glove, find the rest of the Stones and restore the universe. A simple plan. I like it. How do we find the rest of the bling?” He looks at Wong, who’s shrugging, then to Bruce. “Gamma rays worked for the Scepter a couple o’ years ago on Earth. Think we can modify some of my satellites and telescopes to work the same magic on space?”

“I still have the readings from the Mind Stone,” Shuri supplies. “I can recalibrate sensors to scan for that kind of molecular structure.”

Bruce has taken off his glasses and is cleaning them with the hem of his shirt while nodding along, and the gesture is so soothingly familiar that Tony wants to hug him. 

Instead, he says, “And I can pilot a spaceship now! I’m sure that’s gonna come in handy.”

“We gotta find them first.” Steve looks to Shuri and Bruce. “How long until you trace the first Stone?”

“A week –”

“A day –”

Bruce and Shuri speak simultaneously. For the first time since Tony saw him again, Steve’s lips twitch.

“We gotta cover light years’ worth of space –”

“But you’re thinking in terms of Western technology, Doctor Banner,” Shuri grins. “You forget you are in Wakanda now.” She turns to Steve. “Give us twenty-four hours.”

“Good. Then we better prepare.”

“I’ll stock up on arrows,” Clint sighs. “Meet you at the range?”

At Steve’s nod, Natasha pushes off the wall, too. “I’ll need more knives.”

“And I my suit,” Rhodey says. Thor, the show-off, throws his axe in the air where it turns once and lands safely back in his grip. 

Tony looks to the shield resting against a desk in the corner to Steve. “You wanna give that thing a paint job to go with the new outcast couture you got going on? Or you wanna stick to the small mobile version that doesn’t double as a boomerang? Heck, why decide, you can just take both.”

Steve’s eyes widen. “My shield?”

_“That shield doesn’t belong to you. You don’t deserve it. My father made that shield!”_

Tony exhales audibly. This is as close to an apology as a Stark will ever get. 

“Yeah,” he says. “Your shield.”

*

It’s almost like old times. 

If it weren’t for Steve’s beard, Nat and Thor’s hair, and the lack of crappy one-liners from the subdued Clint, Tony would have thought he’s back in 2014 running practice drills with Cap. Okay, that and the nanotech – which has an even faster reaction time now after Tony let Shuri take a look for a couple of minutes. 

“When this is over, how about a partnership between Stark Industries and Wakanda? You’re gonna need a way into the global market.”

“Let us save the universe first, Mr. Stark.”

“You’re not a business woman, are you? Well, too bad. Hey, you think you can probe Bruce a bit during your recalibrating? Cause we could really use the Hulk on our side right about now.”

Shuri promises to try her best and sends Tony off to train with the rest of the team, but before he reaches what Clint had called ‘the range’, Tony spots a blue figure stalk across the grass towards the barrier. 

Tony takes his tweaked nanotech for a test flight and propels himself to her side. 

“You off to send your application to the Blue Man Group or something?”

Nebula slants him a flat look. 

“They’re performance artists, work with music and color. It’s a human thing. You know, like humor. You’re not gonna take the ship, are you?”

“Too conspicuous.”

“So what – oh…”

There are still three ships formerly filled with Outriders outside the borders of Wakanda. Perfect for sneaking up to Thanos by posing as leftover followers. 

“Well, I can’t wish you good luck cause I don’t wanna make Thor mad. Guy really got his sight set on avenging. But…” 

He trails off just as she meets his gaze. There’s a weird sense of camaraderie between them Tony can’t quite explain, and he’s not sad to see her go, technically. He just fears he’s not meant to let her leave, that her trying to kill Thanos is gonna be the thing that throws a wrench into their one and only plan to salvation. That is, if they’re on the right track to begin with. Damn, but how is he supposed to know?

“Goodbye, human,”Nebula says.

Tony watches her depart with a heavy heart. 

*

They find the Mind Stone first. Wong and his portal-opening skills go a long way to retrieve it cause it’s actually somewhere he can open one to. He’s not able to travel galactically yet, however, so any Stones not on Earth are gonna be a bigger pain in the ass. 

It’s Clint who spots it, near the ceiling of an impressive crystal cave, and he’s also the one to scale the wall. 

_Peter would’ve been up there faster._ The thought comes out of nowhere, unbidden, along with a jab in the chest. Tony’s glad they can step right back through the portal and simply keep moving forward cause Team Stone Spotting has another location for them. 

Natasha uncovers the Reality Stone in the haul of a group of space pirates on a planet whose only selling point is the huge black market flourishing there. The operation takes them three days, but Steve figured caution is preferable over causing a ruckus and word getting out to Thanos about someone gathering the Stones. 

Yeah, he said ruckus. 

“No one says ‘ruckus’ anymore, Rogers.”

“Shut up and focus, Tony.” 

“Damn, those two years on the run really cured you of your language problem, didn’t they?”

“I never had a language problem, that was one slip of the tongue –”

“One that’s gonna haunt you for the rest of your live, Rogers.” 

“If you don’t shut the fuck up,” Clint interrupts, “that ain’t gonna be much longer.”

“Only cause you asked so nicely,” Tony says, and returns to his job of disabling the space pirate ship’s security systems. 

Which is so beyond cool, even with everything that’s happened, cause… space pirate tech. 

The actual space pirates? They suck. 

As far as the first real battle as a re-assembled team goes, however, Tony’s gotta admit they’re doing a great. Clint must’ve had loads of time to practice under house arrest cause his aim’s even better than Tony remembers while Nat and Steve move like they’re sharing a mind, all fluid movements and deadly force. 

The look in Steve’s eyes is kinda scary, if Tony’s being perfectly honest, or the way he breaks that pirate captain’s neck and lets the corpse crumble at his feet…

“Got it,” Natasha says over the comms and it takes a moment for Steve to snap out of whatever haze he was in. 

“Good. Proceed to the extraction point. We’ll clean up.”

“I didn’t bring my maid outfit,” Tony quips, then blinks as Steve reveals he genuinely meant torching the space pirate ship after erasing the surveillance data to get rid of any evidence of their presence. 

“Is this that ominous dark side you said I hadn’t seen yet?” he wonders, more to himself than Steve, whose brow creases as he tries to place the reference. 

Steve’s expression hardens when he does. 

“Hey,” Tony says, holding up his armored hands, “this is me approving. With what we’re up against, I think we’re gonna need all the dark side we can get.”

Steve’s chest heaves as he takes a deep breath. In the orange light of the ship, with specks of the pirate’s blood streaking one side of his face and his longer hair dishevelled, Steve looks nothing like the Captain America Tony remembers. 

“That mean you trust me now?” 

The question comes out so softly Tony almost doesn’t catch it. He lowers his arms slowly, deliberately, never breaking eye contact, and nods. No jokes, no teasing. 

“Do you trust me?” he echoes. 

A beat. 

Steve nods on an exhale. 

Tony can see the sincerity in his eyes, the determination in the set of his jaw. They can actually do this. They stand a chance. Together. 

*

The Space Stone turns up somewhere only the Bifrost can travel, which enables the part of the team who don’t wield an axe on crack to focus on their Hulk problem while the raccoon hitches a ride with Thor. 

Or, well… the solution to their Hulk problem, cause when Tony next sees Bruce, there’s the hint of a smile on him.

“May we train with you today?” 

“We?” Steve asks, and the way Bruce nods makes something warm unfurl in Tony’s chest. 

“We resolved our differences. Really had it out,” Bruce tells Tony later, after the most inspired training session Tony has ever witnessed, everyone moving together as though they’d done it for years instead of weeks. Hulk was especially helpful – almost like there was still a bit of Banner in him. 

“That’s because there was. I don’t know how to explain it, Tony. It’s like… like two halves coming together. He felt… Hulk isn’t just there for smashing. I’ve been going about it all wrong, as if we were two different people. But we aren’t. We’re one. And together, we’re invincible.”

 _There’s a lot of that going around,_ it occurs to Tony. Maybe that’s what needed to happen for them to succeed? Maybe Tony needed to be there for the team? 

It definitely feels _right_ , somehow, even if the extent of it only hits Tony that night.

What happens is: Thor returns in a hail of sparks and color, but instead of whooping and brandishing the Space Stone the god is hanging his head as they rush towards him. 

“Where’s the rabbit?” Clint asks, cause he and Rocket get on like a house on fire and apparently cute cybernetically engineered animals trump universe-restoring jewelry. 

“Did you find it?” 

Before Thor can answer Steve’s question, he drops to his knees, eyes screwed shut as if in pain. 

“Thor!” 

Steve is on the ground immediately, which is when Rocket jumps out from the folds of Thor’s cloak, shouting “Boo!”, startling everyone.

It doesn’t even stop Rocket and Thor’s laughter that Steve’s reflex was to pin the raccoon to the grass and engage his shield. 

“Oh damn, your faces! You totally fell for this! Thor, this was a brilliant idea…”

“You’re pulling our leg? Seriously?” Rhodey grouses but powers down his shiny new sonic handgun all the same. 

“I apologize, dear friends,” Thor says between chuckles. “May this put us back in your good graces.”

Steve flops down on his behind and barks out a laugh at the sight of the Space Stone. “Screw you, buddy,” he says, without any bite to it.

Tony’s face hurts from grinning harder than he remembers doing since… yeah, since way before Thanos. Part of him feels bad for being so jovial when half of the universe is still gone, but the other part of him, the bigger one, clings to this moment like a drowning man to a raft. 

Four Stones down, two to go. 

*

Three days later, their good cheer is wearing thinner again, given how neither Bruce nor Shuri nor Tony have managed to get as much as a whiff of the Power Stone.

“You’d think with all the thing’s capable of it’d be giving off more of a homing beacon,” Tony sighs, dropping back into the sofa in the lounge-type thingy in what’s become the Avengers wing of the palace. “Still scanning.”

“We’re reaching further into the galaxy than we ever have,” Bruce points out, aiming an apologetic glance around the room at everyone else. “Even with our current capabilities, that’s gonna take time.”

“What about the Soul Stone? Didn’t Lady Smurf say something?”

“Her official title is Robo Smurf, Hawk _guy_ ,” Tony says, forcing himself to think back to that confrontation on Titan before everything went to shit. “Something about Quill’s girl not coming back. It’s why the idiot went haywire…”

“Count me out for that particular mission, then.” Carrying another drink, Rocket hops up onto the sofa next to Clint, where a cushion’s already waiting for him. 

“Anyone ever tell you you’re a coward?” Tony says. 

“Anyone ever tell you you’re full of shit?”

Rhodey raises his hand at that. “I do. Constantly.”

“Guys,” Nat cuts in. “We need a location.”

“Who knows if it’s gonna return there in the first place?” Tony wonders. 

“Now who’s the coward?”

“Zip it, furball.”

Steve sighs, yet not like he normally does during practice, but when he’s near the end of his patience. Pepper has the same kind of sigh – _no, don’t think of Pepper. You’re missing her enough as it is._

“Vormir, alright? That’s all I remember.”

Judging by everyone’s puzzled expressions, no one’s ever heard of the place either. 

“The Bifrost will know,” Thor says after a beat. “It will –”

A low _bing_ interrupts what would surely have been a riveting lesson on the workings of Thor’s mighty axe but all that’s forgotten cause their scans have finally yielded results. 

And then it doesn’t matter since Tony and the rest of them get a real-life demonstration as Thor transports them all gazillion miles away to… 

Titan. 

The Power Stone’s on _Titan_. 

“Tony?” Steve sounds worried. “You alright?”

“I’m fine,” he says, but the trembling of his voice probably tips them off that the contrary is in fact the case. He can see the debris of the moon Thanos dropped on him, meaning they’re close to where Peter – close to the battlefield, and Tony can’t suppress the strangled sound that realization wants to tear from his throat.

It’s like the universe wants to remind him of Strange’s words, of what’s at stake, and Tony can’t shake this eerie sense of foreboding that’s taking over his insides. 

When he has finally composed himself again and given a curt explanation as to where they are, they decide it’s time for Thor to get started on that new gauntlet while the team spreads out to find number five. 

There’s only a little hick-up with a band of scavengers… That is, if the definition of a hick-up includes Natasha almost losing an arm and Steve unleashing his pent-up grief over a certain one-armed soldier. 

Regardless of what you call his lack of impulse control, however, it ultimately leads them to the Power Stone cause Steve plunges the big ass scavenger alien down an abyss where the little bugger is hiding.

And Steve picks it up with his bare hands. 

“Are you insane?! We’ve got the protective gear with us, you doddery old fool!”

Tony’s still fuming when Steve grudgingly accepts the Vibranium pouch from Nat and drops the Stone inside, and when they’re retracing their steps to where Thor landed since it’s gonna double as their extraction point. 

He would have kept complaining all the way to Vormir if Thor weren’t making a huge deal out of Steve handling the gem like he had.

“We get it, the serum amped up his bling wielding abilities, don’t we have other things to focus on?” Tony says. “Like that size small gauntlet you’re wearing?”

“Wasn’t the other one bigger?” Bruce wonders, earning a wink from Rocket who returned alongside Thor. 

“Told you custom’s always better!”

“Do we just… stick ‘em on?” Rhodey arches an eyebrow at Thor, who shakes his head.

“Safer to keep them separate. There are beings that could sense its presence if assembled. Eitri warned us and I think we should heed his advice.”

“Fine by me,” Tony says. “Now… Vormir, just to rule it out before heading back to dear old Mother Earth?”

*

Only problem… they don’t rule out Vormir. 

Steve is leading the group, Tony at his heels, when a cloaked figure appears in their path. Every single one of them has their weapon at the ready in less than two seconds, but no one is prepared for the sight that greets them when the figure pulls back their hood. 

“Stephen Grant Rogers. We meet again.”

“You’re – youre dead. You can’t be…”

But he is. The Red Skull, part-time Nazi, full-time ‘before’ model for skin care products, in the… well, not flesh. Just… there. Cursed to guide others to a treasure he may never possess. 

“Yeah, boo-hoo for you, pal,” Tony snubs. “Get to the guiding already.”

The horrific visage turns to him… with a smile tugging at its thin lips. Something tells him that’s a bad sign.

“Anthony Edward Stark,” the Red Skull says. “We meet at last.”

Tony exchanges a quick glance with Steve. “At last?”

Yup, definitely a smile. Damn… 

“What you seek lies in front of you, as does what you fear.”

“An endless supply of the moisturizer you use? Cause I gotta level with you here, buddy, your face ain’t selling me on it.”

The guy says nothing, merely glides away and clearly expects them to follow. 

Everyone’s eyes flick to Steve, who gazes after the Skull with a grim expression, obviously weighing his options. 

“Be careful,” Steve cautions eventually, and they’re off after the cloaked figure – the entire team, on their way to the last Stone. Once they have all six, all they need to do is unite them. _Snap_ , and that’s it. Their goal is so close Tony can taste the popcorn and hear Peter’s excited babbling. 

Of course that’s when the one high-power intergalactic communication unit they managed to put together in Wakanda chirps with an incoming transmission. 

Steve extends his hand, palm up, to project it. The sight that greets them once the hologram has formed makes them all flinch. 

It’s Thanos at the border to Wakanda, carrying what looks like the broken and disassembled remains of Nebula. 

Thanos knows. 

“He brought more creatures and more soldiers,” Shuri’s voice sounds, “I don’t know how long our defenses will hold or how long it’s going to take him to realize there’s only one Stone here. Please, hurry.”

Tony sees the same urgency reflected back at him in his teammates’ expressions and neither of them needs to say a word before they all get a move on, following Steve to where the Red Skull has stopped several feet away. 

“Show us,” Steve demands. 

The ugly red mug’s still smiling, yet does as he’s told. There is a gaping abyss ahead of them. The end of their path. 

“What is the meaning of this?” Thor demands. 

“The Soul holds a special place among the Infinity Stones,” the Red Skull says. “To ensure that whoever possesses it understands its power, the Stone demands a sacrifice.”

“Name the price,” Thor says, “and I shall gladly pay it.”

“As will I,” Steve adds, with slightly less pathos. 

“Paying it might not be within your power.” 

The Red Skull pauses, probably for effect, and Tony feels his breath catch in his throat. There’s a cold seeping into his veins, a sense of foreboding that’s back with a vengeance.

Either way, he’s had enough. 

“Can it, asshole,” he snaps. “Do your fucking job and tell us.”

His outburst draws another cold smile, as well as an answer. 

“In order to take the Stone,” the Red Skull says, “you must lose that which you love. A soul for a soul.”

Steve reels back with an angry growl. Thor stares at the red figure in silence yet Clint’s backing away, shaking his head, muttering “No, no, no, forget it,” under his breath until Steve stops him with a look, a promise in his eyes. 

“We don’t trade lives, Clint. Especially not those of children.”

“Don’t be stupid,” Clint whispers. His voice is rough. “We gotta get that Stone. We gotta…”

“No,” Steve says, his voice harder. 

Natasha looks on, her face unreadable. Bruce hangs his head, Rhodey averts his eyes. Steve whips around when Thor exhales audibly, but he, too, is slumping his shoulders. Rocket pats his fingers where they’re forming a loose grip on Storm Breaker. 

The cold in his veins turns to ice in the pit of Tony’s stomach as he watches the scene play out, gets the implications. 

None of them has anyone left. 

_“Tony. There was no other way.”_

Except him. 

_“We’re in the endgame now.”_

A soul for a soul. One life to restore the universe. One life to save billions. 

_“Mr. Stark. I don’t feel so good.”_

It should be clear. And it is – it’s an equation, simple math. 

But.

“Pay the price,” the Red Skull says, “or never get the Stone.”

“No, it’s too high,” Steve says hotly. Standing by his core beliefs even if it means defeat. 

“Is it?” Tony wonders. 

Everyone’s attention snaps to him though he can’t feel anything right now. It’s like his body shut down the moment he put it together, why Strange did what he did. What he must have seen. 

“One soul for the Stone. One life to save the ones that were taken… Seems like a decent exchange rate to me.”

Steve is up in his face in a flash, lifting him by the hem of his jacket just above the containment cell on his chest. 

Tony doesn’t even flinch cause he expected this, expected the self-righteous bullshit Steve spews at him, the insults, the “This is not the way to salvation,” after Steve let go of him again. 

“You heard the Nazgul over there,” Tony says. He’d pat himself on the back for how steady his voice sounds but he’s got different problems. “That’s how it works. Thanos sacrificed his own daughter –”

An arrow nicks his cheek. 

“You stop talking right now, Stark,” Clint growls, another arrow already notched in his bow, “or the next one’s gonna do some real damage.” 

“I never suggested your kids, _Jeez_ ,” Tony snaps. “So get that fucking mesolithic weapon outta my face.”

“What then?” Rhodey sounds worried cause yeah, he probably sees that Tony’s got a plan. 

“I’d like to know that, too,” Steve says, crossing his arms and fixing Tony with a dark look while the others oscillate somewhere between apathy and curiosity. 

“There’s gotta be someone who’s willing to do this.”

“And you’d ask that of them?” 

The dangerous glint in Steve’s eyes gives Tony pause. No one knows Pepper is still alive. If he says something now, Steve will never ever let him bring her to Vormir, and judging by everyone’s expressions, the team is gonna back up their leader on this.

 _Tell them_ , part of him begs. This would be the easy way out and he can’t for the life of him imagine a world where Pepper isn’t by his side. 

But… 

This is bigger than him, infinitely bigger. 

So he keeps his mouth shut and averts his eyes.

“Good,” Steve says, looking to Thor. “Wakanda needs us.”

The Bifrost takes them in a hail of sparks and color. 

*

Steve is right: Thanos and his forces are still outside the borders, growing in numbers with every passing minute. 

“Our defenses will not hold for much longer,” Shuri admits. 

“Then we’ll fight,” Steve says, ignoring M’Baku’s questioning gaze in favor of looking from Avenger to Avenger. “Get what you need.” 

They disperse, just as Tony calculated. He pretends to be in dire need of more nanoparticles but doubles back, unseen, and rushes after the one person who will support his plan. 

Wong opens a portal right underneath the Guardian’s ship, still sitting outside Wakanda, so close to where Thanos’ army is gathering that he can hear the awful sounds the Outriders make. 

“What’re you -”

“I’m coming with you,” Wong says, closing the portal behind him. 

“They’re gonna need the Stone –”

“They have it.”

“Fine,” Tony huffs. “No backhanded comments about my flying skills, though.”

*

It’s early morning in New York but the compound has certainly been up for hours already.

Tony doesn’t allow the happenings of the world distract him as he walks the halls of the building. He ignores all personnel along with the sunlight streaming in from the windows. 

The labs are empty, as he’d hoped. FRIDAY has already changed the logs. No one will miss the anesthetic. 

He finds Pepper at her desk, on the phone with someone. Her face lights up when she sees him, only to falter when she takes in Tony’s expression. He wouldn’t have been able to pretend everything’s alright even if he’d tried. She knows him too well. 

“There’s something I need to do and I needed to see you before I do it,” Tony says the second she ends the call. 

“Tony, what –”

“I love you, Pepper. I don’t tell you enough.” He’s in front of her now, able to take her hands into one of his. “I know I’m the worst boyfriend ever... You’re my rock. I can’t imagine a life without you.”

“I’m right here, Tony, but you’re – what’re you going to do? Please, don’t… It goes both ways, you hear me.” 

Her grip on his hand tightens. It makes the engagement ring dig into Tony’s skin. 

“I know,” he says. “And I’m sorry. I hope one day you’ll be able to forgive me.”

“Forgive you for what?”

He can’t bring himself to say another word. He raises the hand she’s clutching to caress her cheek after she released her grip. Brushes his lips against hers one last time, then rest his forehead against hers while his other hand finds the syringe in his jacket pocket. 

Now or never. 

She breathes out and Tony goes for it. All it takes is one pick of the needle for the compound to flood her bloodstream. Its effects take hold even before Pepper understands what happened and she collapses into Tony’s arms. 

His mind is blank as he carries her limp body over the office threshold. 

Wong doesn’t say a word, simply opens a portal in the antechamber. Tony sees the spaceship, parked on the exact same rooftop from when he first returned to Earth, to find out that Pepper was still alive. 

His feet won’t move. 

He looks down at Pepper. Her face is relaxed, as though she’s sleeping. 

Tony draws a shaking breath, and steps through the portal. 

He puts her down in the seat right behind him in the second row. In the co-pilot seat, Wong says nothing, merely watches as Tony straps Pepper in tightly. 

The flight to Vormir isn’t long, objectively speaking. They should be back in Wakanda before nightfall. Tony’s mind processes it differently, however, each second stretching out longer than the last. He is helpless against the flood of memories that hits him – their first meeting. Their first date. Her hand in his chest. Their first kiss. Breaking up… getting back together. Her breathy “Yes” when he finally got his act together and actually popped the question in a serious manner. 

His dream about having a son. 

He lands on the other side of the mountain cause the plateau near the abyss isn’t big enough to hold the ship, meaning he’ll have to carry Pepper the rest of the way. 

Tony stares down at her. It would be so easy to turn back and come into Wakanda guns blazing, make up some lie to tell Pepper when she wakes up after they killed Thanos and commemorate their victory with a wedding. Shuri would probably be delighted. They could rebuild what’s left of the world, of the universe. 

In that moment, Tony understands where Steve is coming from. Why he risked everything for one person, why he dropped the mantle of Captain America to get Bucky to safety. 

But he’s not Steve.

The buckles open with soft _clicks_. Wong pulls on the ship’s hatch for them but he makes no move to follow, for which Tony is grateful. This is not a burden he can share.

The red figure materializes next to him, smug from the dregs of its cloak to the tip of its decayed nose but thankfully silent in its gloating. Otherwise, Tony doubts he could have kept on walking.

He’s alone at the edge of the cliff. He can’t see the ground below, not really, just enough to know it’s a long fall. 

Tony squeezes his eyes shut. With no one there to see him, he doesn’t try to blink the tears away. 

He places one last kiss on the crown of Pepper’s head and wills whatever force of the universe birthed the Soul Stone to make an exception, just this once... but nothing happens. 

A breeze pushes a lock of Pepper’s hair into her face as he lays her down close to the edge, his knees digging into the rock underneath him.

“I’m sorry,” Tony whispers to her even though he knows she can’t hear. “I love you.”

One hand on her shoulder, the other on her hip. A small push. 

He watches her fall from beginning to end. 

He owes her that much. 

Then he waits. He couldn’t have moved if he wanted to. He’s cold all over and… what the…

Tony’s suddenly on his back, floating on water. He sits up with a gasp, and ground appears underneath him. 

Warmth spreads in his palm. 

The Soul Stone. 

It worked. A sob escapes him and he curls in on himself, clutching the hand with the Stone to his chest. Just as sudden as it came, the wet sensation is gone, replaced by a gust of wind. 

Tony opens his eyes. 

He’s back on Vormir, the Soul Stone in his hand. 

_“There was no other way.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *hits post* ... *hides*


	3. three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologise for the delay! This wasn’t supposed to take so long, I swear… but I hope the quality of the chapter makes up for the wait. Endless thanks to merlenhiver for holding my hand through several rewrites ♥ 
> 
> Again, warning for FEELS. And character death (minor, in my opinion, since this is a Stephen and Tony-centric story, but you might disagree)... Did I mention feels?

Tony sits. 

He sits on the rocky ground of Vormir clutching the Soul Stone and thinks of possibilities – of 14,000,604 to be exact – that didn’t yield results. 

Thinks of wedding date discussions and morning runs in Central Park, of Morgan Stark who’ll never see the light of day. 

_It’s worth it. There was no other way. It’s worth it. It’s worth it_ , he repeats to himself over and over and over again cause he knows it’s the truth. He might even believe it someday.

“Stark.”

Wong’s voice. Must have followed him when he took too long to return to the ship. Tony has no idea how long he’s been sitting here, staring down at the little gem in his hand and trying to see the wisdom it’s supposed to have about it.

“Stark, we need to go.”

Tony nods. Gets to his feet. Sways when he’s upright but rebalances. 

Balance. Ha. 

_There was no other way._

They’re just as silent on the return flight as when they came. It gives Tony the chance to process, at least superficially, cause he doesn’t expect the shields of Wakanda to hold Thanos off forever. There will be time for mourning eventually. 

If Tony survives the final confrontation.

Steve’s gonna be so angry – he went against direct orders and did the one thing Steve stood his ground on. Yet when Tony pats the pocket of his under armor jacket, it doesn’t matter. Let the man do what he wants. After today, Tony can take it. He can take everything the universe throws at him, cause it can’t possibly be worse than –

The radio chirps. 

NASA has crumbled in the wake of what Thanos did, so it’s the Iron Legion that grants them access to Terran air space. Or, well, that asks them to identify themselves and ultimately lets them through after Tony used his executive override codes. 

“Handy,” Wong says. 

“Machines don’t need a CEO.” 

Wong is silent after that. 

He’s gonna have to think about that, about how life will continue if they succeed. If he survives. There’ve been protocols in place since 2008, partially fueled by the hopes of early retirement for both Pepper and him, but the new version of JARVIS he’s been working on will just as well protect the globe to the best of his ability if Tony isn’t there to take the reins. 

Next to him, Wong gasps – they’ve reached the outskirts of Wakanda and the sight that greets them sends a jolt of adrenaline through Tony’s system. 

The formerly lush fields of the nation are once again turning red from all the blood spilled as a new battle rages.

The barrier is completely down. Creatures he knows are Outriders swarm the grounds, along with a few other beings. Probably more of Thanos’ stupid Black Order thugs. The heavy hitters behind the canon fodder. 

At the center: Thanos himself, wreaking havoc even without any jewelry. 

He’s facing off against a flying woman Tony’s never seen before, wearing red and blue with a star on her chest that reminds him too much of Steve’s old uniforms, back when he was still proud to wear it. 

Tony spots Thor in the skies, taking on the triangular pods that spew reinforcements in a seemingly endless supply once they’ve landed. Thor isn’t wearing the Gauntlet, which is confusing for the second it takes Tony to infer they’re probably hiding the thing so Thanos won’t get his dirty paws on it. 

Not having the Gauntlet’s power at his disposal sucks, though – for Thor that is, cause Team Thanos must have upgraded their ships since the last battle judging by how a strobe of lighting or a blow from Storm Breaker isn’t enough to knock the ugly ships out of their trajectories. 

“Buckle up, Buttercup,” Tony tells Wong and engages their weapons. 

Their ship’s got some decent fire power, after all, and it’d be a shame not to use it. An entire horde of Outriders falls prey to Tony’s aim before they can even think about hurting anyone on the ground. They take a crucial hit to the starboard side then, short-circuiting the hell out of their systems, so he’s gotta set them down. 

The armor closes around him the moment he leaps from the pilot’s chair. He leaves the Stone in his pocket, shielded from view and protected by the nanotech, cause yeah, dropping it mid-flight would be bad. 

Tony bursts out of the ship, repulsors blazing, while Wong conjures some bright circles that are hopefully gonna be more effective as weapons than they are as decorative elements. 

“I’ve gotta find Steve,” Tony says before dashing off across the planes, blasting some horned creature off Natasha and clocking Clint’s position among a gaggle of trees. 

Hulk is fighting what looks like a cross between a pile of rocks and a tree, War Machine’s making it rain small explosives, and the colorful uniforms of what’s left of the different Wakandan tribes are dotting the sea of attackers. 

“Iron Man back online,” Tony says as soon as he sees the notification pop up on his HUD. 

There’s a chorus of “Tones!”, “Tony!” and variations of “Where the hell have you been?” that he ignores in favor of blasting three Outriders off Steve, who totally had it under control but Tony’s got more pressing things, really. 

“You abandoned us,” Steve hisses, punctuating every word with a blow to another creature still coming at him. 

“Who’s the new one?” Tony asks, cause there’s too many enemy forces around them to reveal the Stone. He’s gotta prepare Steve, as much as that’s possible, so they’ll be able to move quickly with Thanos being none the wiser. “She’s helpful. Where was she last time?”

“Off planet,” is Steve’s terse response. Oh yeah, Tony’s in trouble. “Fury called her.”

He watches the woman take a hit from Thanos, only to retaliate immediately. He’s seen enough battles, however, to realize she’s losing. There’s blood running down her temple, a gash in her leg, and her flight pattern’s growing unsteady. 

Steve notices it, too. 

With a grunt, he buries his smaller shield in an Outrider’s throat and activates his comm link. 

“Thor, Captain Marvel’s gonna need your help.”

“Aye,” comes over the channel. 

Just in time, too, cause next thing Tony knows, Thanos plucks the woman – Captain Marvel – out of the air and slams her down so hard Tony can hear the sound of breaking bones in his head. 

Thor swoops in with a strobe of lighting. All hope that the Titan was weak without the power of the Infinity Stones evaporates as Tony watches him match the God of Thunder blow for blow. 

“Where’s the Gauntlet?” Tony says, after taking down three Outriders at once. 

“Safe,” Steve snaps. “No thanks to you.”

“Keep it away from the purple asshole, good idea.” Tony propels himself closer, makes sure his comm isn’t active. “Where?”

Steve delivers a powerful front kick to the nearest attacker by way of responding. 

“Steve, please.”

 _That_ gets a reaction. 

Surprise with a hint of shock, followed by a narrowing of his eyes and a split-second later… 

“The labs.” 

Nodding, Tony reactivates his comm. “Wong, I need you over here.”

A portal opens a moment later. 

“Take us to the labs.”

Wong doesn’t question it, merely does as he’s told. 

Tony motions for Steve to follow. The man’s eyes dart towards the battle all round them, yet whatever he sees in Tony’s expression gets him moving. Once inside the many stories of Vibranium and glass, far away from prying eyes, Tony lets the armor recede and takes out the Soul Stone without any preamble. 

Steve stares at his palm. 

Tony swallows. Right. Explanation. “I, uh… Remember when I told you about what Strange said? That there was no other way? Well, turns out that required a lot more than waving a shield in your face and staying for group bonding activities.”

Steve’s still staring. He’s pieced it together, Tony can see, with only one question remaining. _Who._

“Pepper survived. Half the universe gone, but she....”

Tony can’t go on. Steve’s a smart cookie. He’ll get it. 

He does, and his first gut reaction is to slam Tony against the nearest wall. 

“We agreed,” he growls and Tony can feel his pulse skyrocket, “we agreed the price is too high.”

“No, _you_ decided!” Tony snarls back. “And it wasn’t your choice to make!”

He channels the nanotech to push Steve off, sending him stumbling back as Tony tries his best to stay upright. 

“Now stop wasting time on principles and get the fucking Gauntlet.”

Steve doesn’t move for what feels like an eternity but can’t have been more than a few seconds. It’s heartbreaking to watch the man swallow his anger, his convictions, watch him realize that this is the foundation on which they’re going to have to rebuild their world. 

Tony’s gonna be alright. He’s been through so much and has always come back swinging. He sees the bigger picture and how what he’s done is keeping them on the right path. The path he started them on. 

One day, he’ll have processed the guilt. 

Steve won’t. 

And yet he walks them over to a secret door and reveals the Gauntlet inside a reinforced chest, five Stones already in place. 

“We’ve gotta get it to Thor,” Steve says, his voice hollow. 

Wong understands the command even if Steve isn’t looking at him – at anyone, for that matter, eyes fixed on the metal glove in his hands. 

*

Tony lands next to where Captain Marvel is getting her feet back under her. 

“Hey, we haven’t met. Iron Man. You good to go? We kinda need to distract Thanos for a bit.”

He likes her. She doesn’t waste time with niceties, simply gets to work despite the amount of pain she must be in… from the wounds that are almost healed. _Huh._

Thanos and Thor are at each other’s throats, literally, until a bolt of lightning tears them apart. 

Captain Marvel cuts in immediately together with Wong, War Machine and Hulk while Tony drops Steve off where Thor has crashed to the ground. He’s about to circle right back to add the final Stone but his movement’s too conspicuous and Thanos spots Thor putting on the Gauntlet. 

It’s chaos after that. 

If Tony thought Thanos and his troops were a hard nut to crack before, there’s no word for them now. The latest ship that landed apparently also brought another Voldemort knock-off cause there’s no other explanation for why there should be roots emerging from the soil and trying to pin him down. 

He can’t die, he still has the Soul Stone, damn it. 

The blast that frees him also does hell to his nanoparticle supply but he’ll worry about that later. For now he’s gotta find a way to get the Stone to Thor, which means he’s gotta kill that sorcerer somehow, since the guy’s facing off with Captain Marvel and they’re gonna need her on eggplant minding duty… 

But then there’s Steve in the midst of what have got to be twenty Outriders.

It’s his “Come at me” expression that worries Tony and he does a quick fly-by that slays at least half of them. He continues cause ways ahead, Natasha is battling against two other Black Order higher-ups and she’s gonna appreciate Tony knocking that one down before it can sink its blade into her shoulder. 

He keeps going, past Clint who’s still firing off more arrows than Tony can count, ducking underneath Hulk’s arms as he _literally_ rips another Black Order thug in half, joining War Machine in a quick, explosive assault and just like that he’s back near Captain Marvel and Voldie Reloaded. 

Before he can do anything, however, there’s the crackling of a massive bolt of lightning followed by a blinding burst of light and next thing he knows, Thanos is crashing to the ground, sending dirt and grass flying, as Thor stumbles back, left hand empty. 

Thanos has the Gauntlet. 

Steve and Tony move as one, Tony in the air, Steve on the ground. 

Their eyes meet. Steve shifts his shield - _the_ shield - and Tony focuses all the energy he can gather for one more blast.

The energy reflects off Steve’s shield at the perfect angle. 

Bullseye. 

Thanos drops the Gauntlet and it disappears in a blur of movement just as Thor’s coming back for another attack – 

– which ricochets off a protective bubble of some kind and hits Thor right in the chest. 

Performing the spell distracted the sorcerer. Tony’s already shaping another projectile from his armor but the tip of a spear appears where the sorcerer’s heart should be. 

On the ground, a bleeding Okoye lowers her arm. 

Tony sends her a salute which she meets with that expression of hers that means she’d roll her eyes if she did such a thing. He wants to zip across the battlefield to find Rocket when a scream of pure agony cuts through the air – 

It’s Thor. 

Thanos has turned his own weapon against him, delivered a deep gash to his side. Thor evades another blow but stumbles. Tony can see the blood oozing from all the way back where he’s hovering and he’s off a split-second later, pushing against Thanos with all his might to get him off his team mate. 

He expects Steve to be right behind him, but instead it’s Hulk who takes over wrestling Thanos while Thor gets back to his feet. Tony wants to fly to Thor’s side yet movement in his peripheral vision draws his attention away. 

Rocket, running towards Thanos, drawing his gun. 

Which means he handed the Gauntlet off to someone. Tony spots Steve a heartbeat later, and yup, he’s got the bling and… fuck... 

… slips it on. 

“Are you insane?!” Tony snaps, faceplate pulling back as he lands next to his deranged team leader. 

“Give me the Stone, Tony.”

“You can’t, it’s suicide –”

“I was able to hold the Power Stone,” Steve argues, that stubborn edge to his voice that means he won’t budge on this, ever. 

An Outrider comes at them then. Tony’s so amped up he doesn’t even need to look to blast it to bits. 

“That was one! All six are gonna kill you! We can’t lose you –”

“But trading Pepper was okay?”

“Only cause it was the only way! We got Tho–”

But Thor’s still getting hit with his own weapon. Hulk charges at Thanos only to get swept aside with a blow from Storm Breaker as the Titan’s hand closes around Thor’s neck, pressing down hard. 

“I shall end you like I ended your brother,” Thanos booms, and that’s when Tony does a quick sweep of the battlefield only to realize… 

They’re losing. 

Dead bodies everywhere. Hulk buried underneath too many Outriders to count. Rocket flung across the grass as Thor continues to struggle for breath. Natasha outnumbered by three Black Order thugs. More Outriders scaling the tree Clint is perched on and making headway. War Machine evading another General’s spear, his armor covered in mud and dust and blood. Captain Marvel’s movements growing sluggish.

Tony looks to Steve and sees the same realization reflected in those blue eyes. 

It’s now or never. 

There are so many things he wants to say but none seem adequate. He pulls back the nanotech so he can retrieve the Stone from his pocket. Steve slips the Gauntlet onto his left hand. It’s a bit loose, but it’ll do. 

Steve holds out his other hand for the Stone, palm up. 

Tony steps closer, his throat working overtime to swallow against his dry mouth. 

This is it. 

The end of the line. 

He reaches out, covers Steve’s palm with his own, the Soul Stone warm between them. Neither of them says a word. In the distance, Thanos has turned around and spotted them. Yet when Tony finally manages to gather the strength to withdraw his hand, Steve won’t let go. 

Tony finds Steve’s eyes. 

“Tell Bucky…”

Oh. Last words. 

“Tell Bucky I love him.”

He didn’t think Steve could cry. Thought that the serum has made him resistant or something but it doesn’t keep the tears from Steve’s eyes when he adds the final Stone to their new Gauntlet. 

Thor shouts in protest, Thanos in fury. 

All Tony can do is hold Steve’s gaze as the man lifts his hand, his expression twisted in the agony channeling the cosmic power has to be causing him. 

All Tony can do is look on for Steve’s final act of courage. 

A _snap_ echoes across the universe…

… and everything goes white. 

*

The douchebag was the key. 

Stephen didn’t expect Stark to go through with it, despite the accuracy of his spells and the Time Stone’s power, yet here he is. Fading back into existence with a gasp, alone on Titan. 

“He really did it,” he murmurs to himself, stretching to shake off the sensations that apparently accompany being taken apart molecule by molecule prior to being reassembled in the same way. 

The sensation is not new. Dormammu had similar tricks up its proverbial sleeves. 

A current of wind draws Stephen’s attention to the spot on the ground where the young one perished and indeed he, too, is reforming. 

Peter Parker is pale once complete. Stephen remembers the boy’s grief and frustration, remembers he is merely a teenager, and kneels down next to him. 

“Mr. Parker, you’re okay,” he says, placing a soothing hand on the young man’s arm. Christine would be proud of his bedside manner. “You’re on Titan. You’re alive.”

A weird flapping sound behind them startles them both. 

“Ugh, let’s never do that again,” Quill groans, and there’s that noise again. The man is shaking himself, head to toe, and vocalizing as the tension leaves his body. 

Stephen has half a mind to spell him mute again but, well, Quill was just reborn. 

“Sir, uh,” Parker says, “where’s Mr. Stark?”

“I assume he and Nebula took the one functioning ship and left the planet.”

“What? That asshole stole our ship? I’m gonna –”

Quill never finishes since he’s too busy being hugged by his revived teammates. 

“Can you sit up?” Stephen directs at Parker, who nods and proves exactly that. 

He’s wobbly on his feet but rebalances momentarily. “Does this mean we won?”

“Hell yeah, it does,” Quill butts in. “You hope for their sake they left some of Thanos alive or I’m gonna resurrect his purple ass just so I can –”

“As riveting as that would certainly be,” Stephen says, drowning them all with sarcasm, “we first need to leave this planet.”

“Right, plan.” Quill is quick on his feet, so he immediately follows that up with, “Hey, didn’t Nebula come crashing in with a ship?”

“ _Crashing_ being the operative word,” Stephen drawls.

“Ohhh,” Parker says, “I know – magic! Can you open one of those portal thingies to earth, too?”

Intergalactic travel is a challenge most pupils of the mystic arts never master. Wong is bound to earth, Stephen knows, though he wonders if recent adventures will have honed his skills sufficiently to take on the next challenge. Fortunately for all of them, Stephen is not a pupil anymore, but Sorcerer Supreme. 

He doesn’t mention any of this, however. It’s not about him, or his ego. 

And he needs to know what happens next. 

*

Wakanda is a sea of opposing sentiments. 

Tears of joy run down the princess’ cheeks as she hugs her brother, who gazes out across his wrecked realm with deep sorrow. 

Thanos lays on the ground, motionless, Storm Breaker wedged deep into his skull. It couldn’t have happened more than a few minutes ago, Stephen thinks, since fresh blood is still soaking Thor’s side. 

Yet all their pains and scrapes are forgotten in the face of Steve Rogers’ plight. Sergeant Barnes has reformed as well and it is him who is cradling the former Captain in his arms, spilling tears of grief so deep Stephen feels his own eyes sting with it.

A few feet away is none other than Tony Stark. The force of the second _Snap_ must have thrown him to the ground. He makes no move to get up. His face is eerily blank, like he doesn’t care anymore how translucent the mask is that he’s wearing.

“You’re gonna pull through, you hear me, punk?” Bucky says, hoping against hope when everything points to the contrary. 

Steve Rogers’ entire left side is charred from wielding the Gauntlet, which lays abandoned next to him along with his shield. Stephen can feel the Time Stone calling to him but he refrains from collecting it. They deserve this moment. They deserve peace. 

“I’m sorry, Buck…”

“No, this ain’t the end of the line, Stevie, we still got miles to go,” Barnes says. His eyes find the Gauntlet. “The Stones, Stevie, we still got ’em – we can bring you back.”

He’s breathless with desperation as he reaches for it with his Vibranium arm, but Stephen is faster. The Cloak wraps itself around the glove and keeps it out of reach. 

Stephen surveys the group gathered around them, just to ensure none of them is making a move towards the Gauntlet. Barnes would have attacked if he weren’t still cradling Steve Rogers’ head in his hand. 

“Buck, no,” Rogers says. “It was supposed to be this way.” 

He glances towards Stephen at that. His gaze holds no anger, merely acceptance. 

Barnes is far from it yet a movement distracts him. Rogers seems to be using his last energies to reach for the shield still on the ground. Stephen assumes he wishes to have it with him upon death, but Rogers surprises him by lifting it towards Sergeant Barnes in silent offer. 

“Steve –”

“No one I trust more.”

The next words die on Barnes’ tongue as the gravity of the situation finally sinks in. Stephen surveys the group surrounding them and finds no eye dry. 

Barnes might have stared at the shield held out to him for longer but when Rogers’ arm starts to shake under the strain of the Vibranium, Barnes has no choice but to take the shield. He puts it down quickly and with little finesse, then cups Rogers’ face with his hand and places a soft kiss on Rogers’ forehead. 

As Barnes pulls back, Stephen can see Steve Rogers smiling softly. 

“Bucky, I… I love you.”

Something breaks inside Sergeant Barnes then, softly and silently. 

“I love you, too, punk,” he whispers back. 

Steve Rogers takes his last breath a moment later. 

Silence falls over the crowd like a heavy blanket. Even Quill has no quip up his sleeve. Next to Stephen, Peter Parker surreptitiously wipes away his tears. 

The quiet might have stretched forever, broken only by Barnes’ sobs, but Stephen cannot allow that. Fourteen steps take him to where his Cloak hovers, still wrapped around the Gauntlet. 

Stark’s head lifts on the seventh… though his gaze is still miles away. 

At least the man won’t stop Stephen from re-integrating the Time Stone with the Eye of Agamotto, which he does under the eyes of everyone around him as the Cloak returns to its rightful place around his shoulders. 

It’s Thor who speaks up first. 

“What of the others?” He motions towards the remaining gems. 

“The Mind Stone belongs to Vision,” Wanda Maximoff says, her tone and posture brooking no argument. “We can bring him back.”

“Such decisions are best not made in the wake of victory,” Stephen says. 

He anticipates her glare, anticipates her attempt to secure the Gauntlet, so he makes it vanish into thin air before she is able to levitate it into her hands. 

“Give me the Stone,” the witch demands, her eyes lighting up. 

“No.”

It’s Stark who spoke, and the man himself is getting to his feet. There’s a crust of nanoparticles on his arms and one knee, his temple is bleeding and one of his eyes will be an impressive shade of black very soon. 

“Dumbledore’s right. We’ve seen what they can do in the wrong hands. We’ve gotta…” Stark gestures in a way that somehow encapsulates so much more than words ever could. “We can’t rush into this.”

T’Challa stands with Stark, as do Thor and Carol Danvers. The witch acquiesces. 

Peter Parker seizes the chance to step forward. 

Stark must have known, on a logical level, that if Stephen is here, the kid would be as well, and yet wonder and relief floods his features in a way that would anyone have presume otherwise. 

“Uh, hi, Mr. Stark.”

“Hi, kid.” 

Stark’s voice is faint as he stares. Peter Parker starts to fidget. 

“I… I’m sorry I missed all the action, sir, I would’ve… but we all only just –”

“Shut up,” is what Stark says, finally getting his feet to move so he can close the distance between them. 

Stephen witnessed their last embrace, watched the young one fade from existence within Stark’s grasp, so it comes as no surprise that this time, they seem to be competing for who can cling to the other the hardest. 

“For the record, kid,” Stark says, his words muffled by Peter’s shoulder, “this is me hugging you.”

It prompts a wet laugh from Parker, who tightens his grip. Stephen sweeps his gaze along the survivors gathered around them. No one makes an attempt to interrupt. 

Barnes is still kneeling on the ground, holding onto Steve Rogers, in a world of his own. By now, Sam Wilson has joined him on his other side but doesn’t dare encroach on Barnes’ space. 

When Stark eventually pulls back from Peter, he rubs a quick hand over his eyes. Stephen heaves a mental sigh – even in the face of the profound loss the man suffered, he remains concerned with how the outside world perceives him. 

“Alright, kid,” Stark says. “You, me, _Aliens_ marathon. Once things have settled down again, I mean. What d’ya say?”

It takes Stephen a moment to follow the weird suggestion, but Peter Parker lights up immediately. 

“Oh yes! Can we have popcorn?”

For some reason, that makes Stark choke up again. He covers it with a laugh and a hand on Parker’s shoulder that might be intended as a nonchalant gesture yet fails by a mile. 

“You can have anything you want, kid.”

Peter’s grin widens at that. “Can Ned come, too?”

“Ugh, I’m gonna regret this, aren’t I?”

“Please, Mr Stark? We always watch old movies together and I’m sure he’s really freaked out after all the…” Parker pales. “Oh my god, oh, we gotta – Aunt May’s gotta be worried sick and –”

Stephen leaves Stark to calm down his protégé and maybe even send word through the Iron Legion to assure Mrs. Parker her nephew is alive and well while he focuses his attention on the clean-up activities that have begun all around him. 

Usually, he’d enjoy making Stark perform menial tasks, though ‘usually’ seems like nothing but a distant memory that hasn’t been valid since 14,000,605 possible futures ago. 

Stephen, Wanda and Wong’s abilities prove helpful in reverting the Wakandan land to its former glory but they leave the bodies of their soldiers. T’Challa, M’Baku and Shuri take charge of burial preparations for their fallen kin while Stephen separates the dead attackers in high piles and reduces them to ash in the blink of an eye. 

It is Sergeant Barnes who carries Steve Rogers’ body up to the Tower, his face unreadable. Wilson tracks him for a few steps, then glances to the shield left on the ground. Scowling, he picks it up and follows his comrade up the hill. 

Stephen intends to float after them. The sooner this is done, the sooner they can decide what to do with the remaining Stones, and everyone who will want to have a say in the matter should be within the –

Something tugs at his Cloak. 

It’s not enough to stop his flight but it does make him waver with a decided lack of grace.

There’s an indignant “Ouch!” from the perpetrator as his Clock responds with a sharp slap of its own. 

Of course it’s Stark. And of course he’s quipping. 

“Your outerwear bites. Is that thing even house trained?” 

Stephen lets it fall flat and arches an eyebrow. 

Stark manages to put up a confident front for all of five seconds before he loses most of his bravado as the Cloak returns to Stephen. The air between them is like nothing Stephen has ever experienced. Not tense, but… somber. 

When Stark finally breaks the silence, it’s nothing like Stephen expected. 

“Which option was it?”

“Pardon?”

“Which option? Was this fourteen million whatever, or, like, an earlier number but you just kept looking cause it sucked so bad?”

“It was the last. 14,000,605.”

“So it wasn’t the only way? You could’ve kept looking, maybe found a way where, you know, I didn’t have to –”

Stark stops abruptly, having obviously misjudged his ability to act unaffected throughout his tirade. 

Stephen arches an eyebrow. “Are you quite finished?”

“God, you’re such a dick.”

“Takes one to know one.”

That’s when Stark explodes. “Could you take this seriously for one fucking second?” There is no trace of apathy in the lines of Stark’s body now. He’s right in front of Stephen again, who doesn’t give an inch. “You made me kill my fiancé –”

“You pushed her over the cliff yourself, if I recall –”

“Yeah, and I hope that’s gonna haunt you for the rest of your life the same way it’s gonna haunt me.” 

“Oh, believe me, it will.”

His sincerity has Stark stop short, wind gone from his proverbial sails. Stephen dislikes being this vulnerable under the eyes of Tony Stark, yet after everything that happened, he needs the man to understand that he isn’t the only one who will have to live with what he has done. 

Stark regards him with an intensity that would make a lesser man cower. Stephen meets the gaze head on and lets him see the exhaustion and the pain underneath his aloof demeanor, the devastation and the heartache he prefers to hide. 

Stark is no stranger to the smoke and mirrors either, as Stephen has discovered. They aren’t that different, Stark and he. Stephen sees why Rogers called the man earth’s best defender. 

“Did you…” Stark says. “Did you see a future where I didn’t…”

Stephen nods. “Frankly, that’s all I expected to find.”

Surprise flicks over Starks expression, followed by deep sorrow. 

“Were we happy there?”

“As happy as you could, with half the universe gone. I saw several weddings. Miss Potts even took your name in one.”

“One?” Stark laughs, somewhat manically. “Yeah, that sounds about right.” 

Stephen sighs. “Since I highly doubt you staged that frankly pathetic attempt to pluck me out of the sky to interrogate me about the ridiculous number of other options, could you get to your point? I’m even inclined to let you punch me, if it facilitates your grieving process until you find the next liquor store.”

“Listen, dickhead,” Stark snaps and _this_ is what Stephen expected: a flare of irrational, red hot anger, hands fisting in the lapels of his robe. “I did what you wanted me to, I played my damn part, so you're gonna shut up and –”

“No.”

“Wha–”

“This isn’t over yet, in case you didn’t notice. The fate of five Stones has yet to be determined and something tells me that was far from Miss Maximoff’s final attempt to help her selfish goals.”

“Selfish?” Stark’s grip on him tightens. “That’s what love is to you?”

“ _Her_ kind of love, yes,” Stephen says, giving his Cloak permission to forcibly remove Stark’s hands from his chest. “She's blinded by it. She doomed this planet and made an entire nation fight against Thanos because she refused to take the easiest, most logical path of action and found a sympathetic fool in Steve Rogers. I had thought you were cut from the same cloth, Stark, yet to my great relief I was mistaken.”

His little monologue leaves Stark silent and processing. His walls are down – whether from exhaustion or by choice, Stephen couldn’t say.

“I…” Stark runs a hand through his hair. It’s messier than Stephen has ever seen it. “I had this whole speech planned. Was seriously tempted to hit you, too,” he adds with a dry chuckle, “but, yeah… What are we gonna do with the Stones?”

“The Time Stone stays with me,” Stephen begins though he needn’t have worried, for Stark is already shaking his head.

“Yeah, yeah, don’t get your robes in a twist. And I guess sticking one back on Vision’s actually real sensible cause something tells me we’re gonna need all the firing power we can get.” 

Stark looks at him then, no trace of irony about it, silently asking for his opinion in what has to be the most respectful tone Stark has ever directed at him.

“I concur. The benefits of having Vision in the world far outweigh the potential risks.”

“Wow, look at us – agreeing on something,” Stark mutters, so low that Stephen assumes it wasn’t meant to be heard or reacted to. 

Instead, Stephen summons the Gauntlet back into existence on this plane, making it levitate in the still ample space between them. Once superior craftsmanship, the glove has been reduced to a charred shell of its former glory. 

“What of the rest?” Stephen asks. “What do you think should be done about them?”

Stark blinks at him. “Oh, you’re really asking?”

“I just did, didn’t I?”

Stephen truly doesn’t catch whatever Stark mutters in response, which tapers off when the man’s eyes fall on the Soul Stone where it is still attached to the Gauntlet. 

“Right…” Stark swallows. 

Stephen cannot help but marvel at Stark’s composure under the onslaught of memories most certainly flooding his mind. Yet the man takes a deep breath and keeps going. 

“We could name a couple of other Stone Keepers, go all _Lord of the Rings_ on them and split them up.”

“They would still be out there,” Stephen says, and doesn’t need to elaborate for Stark to understand. 

“You mean hiding them didn’t work out so well last time?”

“I think if Thanos was able to find them –”

“– then the next megalomaniac eggplant will, too. Damn.” Stark heaves a sigh. 

Stephen has a plan, a plan he will execute no matter who sides with him, yet he wants to know what Stark will suggest. 14,000,604 possible futures ago, Stephen would have bet the man would want a Stone for himself, maybe even the Soul Stone, but option 14,000,605 suggests otherwise. 

“We gotta destroy them,” Stark says eventually. “We gotta do what we should have done when this whole shit show started.”

“I highly doubt Miss Maximoff will allow that to happen, and her cooperation is paramount in this plan.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re – wait, you mean you’re agreeing with me?”

Stephen turns his eyes to the heavens but it’s too late. 

“Wow, I gotta put this in my calendar, that’s twice now in under an hour, you think we’re gonna –”

“Stark.”

“You’re no fun, ugh. Don’t tell me, you can’t even do balloon animals, can you?” 

Stephen ignores the quip and instead turns his gaze inward. The Time Stone is a soothing presence against his chest, a presence that must not cease. The answer dawns on Stephen with a degree of certainty he has rarely experienced. 

“Okay,” Stark continues, “so we keep the Mind Stone, revive Vision. Wanda’s gonna be happy to help destroy the other Stones then, and –”

“The Time Stone stays with me,” Stephen states. “I am the Stone Keeper, I –”

“– swore an oath to protect, yeah, I got the audio guide version back in New York. But why should we make an exception for you?”

“Why would we make an exception for Vision?”

“Cause he’ll never go crazy supervillain on our asses,” Tony snaps. “The guy’s worthy, okay, he lifted Mjolnir – only thing he’ll do is protect earth. We’d be stupid not to bring him back.”

“I am Sorcerer Supreme,” Stephen states. “I protect your planet from threats the machine can’t even begin to fathom.”

“Oh, get off of your high horse, pal, you’re still human and –”

Stephen never hears the rest of the sentence, however, since Stark is staring at the Gauntlet that is still floating in the air next to them. 

The Soul Stone has vanished. 

“What the…” Stark says but Stephen is already acting. 

He summons four pouches that Shuri manufactured for the Avengers as they went on their quest for the Stones and divides the remaining ones between them. 

When he looks up, he finds Stark regarding him with a pensive expression. 

Stephen arches an eyebrow. 

“Balance,” Stark says. “We destroy three.” 

“Three remain,” Stephen finishes. 

A sense of rightness fills him, emanating from the Time Stone, and when he next meets Stark’s eyes, he sees his own resolution mirrored back at him. 

It is far from over. They still have to convince the others. Restoring Vision will not be an easy feat – neither will destroying three Stones, or returning to a world without Steve Rogers to lead the Avengers. For Stark, it also means returning to a world without his fiancé. 

First things first, however. 

Stephen conjures a portal that opens outside the throne room rather than inside. He lifts a single eyebrow at Stark. “Shall we?”

Something shifts in the air between them as the ‘we’ registers, something profound. Stark exhales audibly and for a moment all his masks fall away, exposing pain and guilt and grief and so much more Stephen would need a lifetime to name. 

“Let’s do this,” Stark says, and steps through the portal. 

Stephen does not hesitate to follow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!  
> This story isn’t my ultimate theory on what Avengers 4 will bring (I don’t know how the MCU is going to handle Captain Marvel or what will happen in Ant-Man, for one) but there’s a lot in there that I’d love to see.
> 
> I’m quite proud of this fic, to be honest, and greatly enjoyed the discussions and reactions it has sparked so far (even the more negative ones). I'd love to hear your thoughts now that it's complete!
> 
> *
> 
> PS: I dislike how the MCU treats Pepper as a plot device to further Tony's arc and not a three-dimensional character as much as the next queer fan, but this story isn't a revisionist tale of Pepper within Infinity War. I agree that I could have given her more agency, but I didn't. This fic has taught me a lot, and this aspect, too, will definitely provide me with a chance to learn and grow as a writer.


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